Terminator: The Cameron Reese Chronicles
by Weirdo-Girly
Summary: Cameron and John Reese are attacked by a T-888, but are saved by another, female terminator called Sarah Connor. Together with Kyle Reese, they travel forward in time to stop Skynet. AU. Cameron/Sarah. Femslash.
1. Pilot

Hey, this is a new story from me. Hopefully, you'll like it and give me some feedback.

I'm sorry for every eventual mistake.

Description: Cameron and John Reese are attacked by a T-888, but are saved by another, female terminator called Sarah Connor. Together with Kyle Reese, they travel forward in time to stop Skynet. AU. Cameron/Sarah. Femslash.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

Ps: Don't worry, my other story will continue...tomorrow maybe. ;)

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**_Pilot: Save her_**

_"You know, what you have to do?"_

_"Yes. Travel back in time, find your and your sister's younger selves, and protect them."_

_"Moreover?"_

_"Save her."_

_"Okay... Good luck and farewell, Sarah."_

_"Farewell, John."_

_John Reese activated the TDE. _

_________________

_"There are those who believe that children in the womb share their mother's dreams; her love for them. Her hopes for their future. As told to them in pictures as they sleep inside her. Is that why they reaches for her in that first moment and cry for her touch? But what if you've never known your mother, because she sacrificed herself for you? Because she knew how important your and your brother's life were. She knew what your lifes held for you and your brother. That your fate was tied to the fate of millions. That every moment of your life would be spent staying alive. Would you understand why she wasn't there for you? Why she left? Would you still reach for her if the only dream you ever shared with her were a nightmare?"_

**Date: August 24, 1999**

**Red Valley, New Mexico**

Kyle Reese, who had just come into the kitchen and was now pouring himself a cup of coffee, turned to his teenaged offsprings. John and Cameron Reese were sitting at the breakfast table. And while John gulped down his scrambled eggs, Cameron perused the newspaper.

Their father asked, "What's on the agenda today?"

The two looked up briefly and aswered him in unison. "Nothing, Dad."

"Aha... Have you done your homework?"

"Yes, Dad."

Kyle took a gulp of his coffee as his daughter asked him, "Did you have a nightmare last night? I heard some strange noises."

Her father sniffed. "Yeah. It was about..."

"Are you going to meet Allison for lunch?" John interrupted him, not wanting to hear it. After all, he could imagine how his father's nightmares looked like.

Clearing his throat, Kyle answered his son, "Don't know yet. She's pretty busy, you know."

"If you don't spend more time with her, she'll leave you, Dad." Cameron warned him. "She won't wait a lifetime."

"We're not even a couple." Kyle declared. "How can she leave me then?"

His daughter sighed. "See, with this attitude you'll put her off for sure."

"Let it be, Cam." John told his sister. "It's down to him."

Kyle groaned in frustration. "Okay, I'll call her. You're happy now?"

"Yes. " The only female Reese grinned.

John and Cameron's father tried to suppress a smile. "Now take a hike! School starts in an hour."

About an hour later, the school bell rang, signaling the start of the first lesson. As the substitute teacher entered the class, the Reese siblings sat down, just like all the other students did. There was a dead silence, caused by the stern appearance of their temporary teacher. He introduced himself as 'Mr. Cromartie', before he sat down as well and started attendance call.

Meanwhile, Cameron's absent gaze shifted to the window. Outside, in the parking lot, she spotted a raven-haired woman standing next to a silvery truck. She estimated the woman to be around thirty. Sunglasses covered her eyes and she wore a long, brown leather-coat. Cameron wondered, if she wasn't sweltering. However, she felt a shiver running down her spine as the raven-haired seemed to watch her. Yet, Cameron was unable to look away.

"Cameron Phillips?"

The girl felt a nudge on her upper arm. Finally, her eyes broke away from the woman and she looked in the opposite direction to her friend instead. "What?"

"Cameron Phillips?" The teacher asked for the second time.

"Yes!" Cameron shouted, startled.

Laughter arose, but it stopped immediately, as Cromartie pointed a gun at Cameron all of a sudden. Cameron was too perplexed to move and simply stared at the barrel.

John watched the scene in horror, yelling at his sister, "GET DOWN, CAM!"

Instinctively, Cameron did so, why the bullet fortunately missed her. About two inches, though.

The students shrieked, trying to flee. In the meantime, John crawled to his sister. As he reached her, their eyes met. Both of them knew, _they _were back. Swallowing, he roughly grabbed Cameron's arm and pulled her with him. Together they managed to escape out the window. The siblings stopped after a few metres of running though, because of the woman, who came towards them. It was the one, Cameron had viewed some minutes ago.

She and John gasped, as the raven-haired revealed the heavy rifle, which she had hidden under her coat. She took aim and fired. John and Cameron dropped to the floor, screaming. Not for the first time, the Reese siblings feared for their lifes. But this time, there was nowhere to run. Two terminators... They were as good as dead.

John felt anger and desperation, tears beaming in his eyes. Next to him he could hear his sister whining. He squeezed her arm in a helpless manner, waiting for the end of the future leaders of mankind.

"Come with me if you want to live." A monotone, but somehow urgent voice said above them.

Hesitating, John and Cameron looked up in the stoic face of the raven-haired. She didn't wear her sunglasses anymore.

_Jade-green_, Cameron opined, a bit untimely.

She and her brother jumped up, not really pondering about it, but scurrying to the silvery truck. They were just relieved not to be dead by now. Their obvious rescuer followed them, started the engine and was about to drive off. But Cromartie obstructed their way, raising his gun, firing.

The raven-haired ordered John and Cameron, "Down!"

The bullets hit the woman's chest, yet didn't harm the Reese siblings. She stepped on the gas, running the terminator over and making the tires squeal.

And when Cromartie was out of sight, John inhaled deeply. "Cam, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." His sister answered, trying to calm down. "What about you?"

John let out a sigh. "I broke my nail."

Although Cameron nudged him, she grinned. Right now, she was eased that they were both alive, what seemed like a miracle to her. Cameron was aware of the fact, that they owed this the raven-haired, who sat next to her on the truck's bench and was driving in silence.

Cameron wanted to say something, yet was cut off by her brother. "Who are you? You're no human...that's for sure."

"No, I'm not." The woman told him. "My name is Sarah Connor. I'm a terminator, but don't worry, I won't harm you. I'm here to protect you."

John and Cameron remained silent. Finally, John asked though, "Where are you heading for?"

"Your house. Kyle Reese is probably in danger."

Immediately, John took out his cell phone and called his father. "Dad, listen, they're back. Yes...no, we're alright. Another terminator saved aus... On our way to you."

Meanwhile, Cameron got some glimpses of 'Sarah Connor'. It wasn't the first time, in which a terminator didn't try to kill her and her brother. Yet, the girl knew something was different, even though she couldn't put her finger on it.

"You have to end the call." Sarah told John. "Otherwise, the T-888 will be able to locate your house."

John ignored her, but Cameron intervened by taking her brother his phone away. "Dad, we have to stop. Bye."

She ended the call and looked at Sarah. "How long was that?"

"One minute and twelve seconds."

"Shit!"

After ten minutes of driving, they arrived at their house and were greeted by a frantic Kyle, who stormed outside and hugged his children, briefly but clearly happy and releaved. Then he spotted Sarah, who got out of the truck. "You're the other terminator?"

"Yes."

"I have a lot of questions to you."

"I know, but we do not have the time right now." Sarah explained. "The T-888 is on the way. He won't stop, until John and Cameron Reese are dead. We have to leave."

Kyle growled softly. "We have to keep running, you mean."

"No!" John stated harshly. "Dad, we can't keep running."

"What should we do instead, John?" Kyle was obviously annoyed by his son.

John fired back, "Fighting!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not! We have her on our side."

"_Her_?"

His son pointed at Sarah, causing Kyle to sneer. "_It _is no assurance that we'll suvive a fight."

Unaffected by the argument between father and son, Sarah reminded once more, "The T-888 will be here soon."

The two males didn't listen. Therefor, Cameron did and asked her, "What do you think, we should do?"

Sarah's eyes rested on Cameron, who felt strange and petty under the terminator's regard. However, Sarah tilted her head and asked in return, "What do _you_ think, we should do?"

"What _I _think?" Cameron was more than just surprised. She wasn't used to be consulted about important things. "Are you serious?"

"Of course." Sarah replied, matter of factly. "In the future, you are considered as the wise and prudent one of the Reese siblings."

"Well..." The teenager couldn't hide her smile, but rubbed her neck in a shy gesture. "I..."

"Watch out!" The terminator shouted, as the T-888 showed up in the distance and fired at them.

Kyle and John dropped down on the dusty ground, while Sarah preserved Cameron from being shot by acting as shield for her. Afterward, she shoved her away. "Down!"

Sarah and Cromartie began to fight. The male terminator succeeded in grabbing the female one's neck and punching her in the face several times. But Sarah took hold of both his wrists, which she twisted, causing the T-888 to let go of her. He kicked her in the stomach therefore, sending her to the ground. Unharmed, Sarah got up again. They grasped each other's shoulders, spinning around. Finally, Sarah managed to knock his head against a hard stone a couple of times. His eyes went dark.

"Is it...offline?" Kyle demanded.

"Yes, but only for two minutes. He reboots. I do not have the right equipment to extract his chip. We have to leave. Now."

"We'll run." John whispered. "For now."

Near nightfall, the Reeses and Sarah Connor had found a secluded hideout in an old, empty warehouse. A drum with a fire inside spent some warmth.

"Well then..." Kyle sat down on a box, looking at Sarah. "What are you?"

Sarah remained absolutely calm, answering him, "A terminator, called Sarah Connor."

"Now something like you is allowed to bear a name?" Kyle didn't even try to hide his disgust.

The raven-haired tilted her head. "Your son gave me this name. But he was inspired by your daughter."

John and Cameron exchanged looks. Yet, they didn't say something, but watched their father and their protector.

"What model are you?"

"I'm a prototype. I'm the first terminator built for infiltration."

Kyle licked his lips. He often did this when he was upset. "What year are you from?"

"2027."

"How long have you been looking for us?"

"73 days."

"And the war?"

"The Skynet missile defense system goes online April 19, 2011. Declares war on mankind and triggers a nuclear apocalypse two days later."

"Miles Dyson?"

"Someone else built Skynet."

"Who?"

"I don't know?"

"You don't know who builds the computer that blows up the world?"

"I wasn't sent here for that."

"For what then?"

"Protect John and Cameron Reese."

"You're doing a great job, prototype." His voice was full of sarcasm.

Sarcasm, which Sarah didn't understand. "Thank you."

Kyle laughed at her. But he stopped when Cameron said, "She's indeed doing a great job, Dad. Without her, we'd be dead with safety by now."

Her dad snarled, showing his displeasure. Yet, he hold himself back and change the topic. "You should rest for a while. You had a rough day."

Both, John and Cameron knew, that it would be the best, if they didn't goad him anymore. So they lay down on some blankets on the truck bed. Sarah had given them the blankets, which she had bought at her arrival, because she had expected today's events to happen some day.

"Won't you sleep, Dad?" John asked his father.

"No." Came the simple answer from Kyle, who was sitting in the driver's cabin, studying a map.

His children sighed softly. They drifted into sleep a few moments later...just as Kyle did.

Nevertheless, Cameron barely slept an hour, before she woke up again, thanks to her brother, who had thrown an elbow at her. Now she regretted, shifting close to him, searching for some comfort. The girl looked up and was somehow shocked to see a half naked Sarah sitting near the drum.

Sarah's eyes fixed on her. "Everything is under control. You can go back to sleep."

"Uhm..." Cameron shook her head with the aim to clear said head. "Not with my brother lying just an inch away from me."

"The gap amounts more than an inch."

Cameron remembered, that terminators didn't understand jokes. "I know... What are you...doing?"

"I'm removing the bullets in my torso."

Now Cameron saw the pair of pliers in Sarah's right hand. "Oh. Will...will it 'heal'?"

"Yes, the skin will heal."

"Without stitches?"

"Yes."

"Pretty efficient."

"Yes."

Cameron had no idea what to say anymore. To her pleasant surprise, Sarah added, "The self-recovery of living tissue was your invention."

Pride arose in Cameron's chest. "Wait... _Living_ tissue?"

"Yes, I'm a cybernetic organism." Sarah explained to her. "Other than my predecessors, I do not just have a skin as cover. I have also muscles and internal organgs and can make use of them. I'm able to breathe, bleed, eat, cry..."

"Perfect for infiltration." Cameron pondered.

"Exactly."

"But then you've also be able to pretend emotions."

Cameron's mouth went dry all of a sudden, as Sarah smiled for the very first time, while her jade-green eyes sparkled. "That's right on."

The teenager cleared her throat. "You might put your shirt back on, once you're done. I don't want John or my father to see you like this...topless. That would be...somehow nasty, you know. Kinda...eewww."

"Thank you for explaining. I think, I know what you mean." Sarah declared. "My nakedness could arouse them."

Cameron grimaced. "See, that was..._eeeeewww_!"

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Cameron could have sworn, that Sarah grinned at her, but then, she reminded herself that terminators never grinned.

"You should rest." Sarah adviced Cameron, while she put on her shirt again.

The girl nodded and lay back down, before she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes.

"Good night, Cameron."

A bit confused, the girl responded, "Good night, Sarah."

Cameron was about to fall asleep, when John pulled the big blanket away, leaving Cameron uncovered. She hissed, "John, you bugger!"

Sighing, she curled up into a ball and tried to sleep nevertheless. Suddenly, she felt a slight touch all over her body, causing her to open her eyes. She saw Sarah, standing at the truck's side, looking down at the teenager. Then Cameron looked down at her body and back to Sarah, who smiled at once more. Afterward, she walked away and Cameron swallowed the lump in her throat. Sarah had covered her with her leather-coat. And while Cameron drifted off into sleep, she pulled the coat up to her nose. Her last thought was, since when terminators used perfume.

Next morning, agent Ellison and a crew investigated the Reese's former household. They found brass. The sheriff noted, that obviously, there had been a fight, but there was no blood. As a result, Ellison told him, "The guy, who attempted to murder Cameron Reese had a 'robot leg', seen by nineteen witnesses."

In the meantime, the Reeses and Sarah decided to stop running away, but to stop Skynet instead.

"We'll go to the Dyson house." Kyle planned. "I want to know, if Miles told anyone about Skynet."

Five minutes later, the four of them were on their way to Tarissa, Miles' widow, who was infuriated that Kyle showed up, because the FBI pinned Miles' death on him and his son and daughter.

"I'll call the police." Tarissa said, reaching for the phone.

But Kyle stopped her. "Listen, it's important. Did Miles tell anyone about Skynet? Please, the machines are back."

"No." She answered him, defeated. "I do not know, if Miles told anyone. You know, that I never knew much about my husband's business."

"Yes, but..."

"Cromartie!" Sarah warned, pointing out the window, at the T-888, who was walking up the driveway. "We cannot go outside to get to the truck. Misses Dyson, we require your van."

Tarissa stared at her. "What makes you think that I would allow you the use of my van?"

"If you don't, the T-888 will come inside your house and you may be killed."

"You can have it."

"Thank you."

Sarah, Kyle, John and Cameron rushed into the garage, where they climped into the van. Sarah bursted through the garage door, down the driveway onto the street. Another car almost crashed into them, causing Kyle to shout, "You wanna kill us?"

"No." Sarah answered, calmly. "I want to save you."

"What are we going to do now?" John asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"We'll go to a bank that was built in 1963."

"What is that supposed to achieve?"

As they arrived at the bank, Sarah pulled out a gun and forced a clerk to lock them in a safety deposit vault. She gained a number of keys and told the Reeses, "We have to open each specific vault. They are carrying pieces for an isotopic weapon."

"Are these things from the future?" John wanted to know.

Sarah responded, "Nothing organic can travel through time, no clothes, weapons, nothing. An engineer created all this. He was sent back for preparations."

While she spoke, she built the isotopic weapon. "The gun can be used to destroy machines like Cromartie."

In the meantime, the FBI received word about the break in, sending in a SWAT team. However, Cromartie showed up too, ignoring the SWAT, because they were 'not a threat'. He began ripping the vault door apart, piece by piece. Inside the vault, Sarah activated the TDE, which was built into the bank vault so that anyone can have a way back to the future.

"If we want to take down Skynet, we will have to stop its birth in the future." Sarah stated.

As the device began to warm up, Cromartie was near able to break through, why Kyle grabbed the weapon.

"Dad, we have to go!" Cameron urged her father.

Just as temporal energies started swirling, Cromartie came in, prompting Kyle to fire at him. It took off the T-888's head and flesh and the temporal energies formed into a brilliant burst of light.

A time displacement sphere appeared on a freeway all of a sudden, causing a panic and accidents. When it dispersed, four naked bodies crouched on the ground. It were Sarah, Kyle, John and Cameron. Contrary to Sarah, the Reeses were hugely embarrased. One teen took a video of them with a cell phone. The four got up and ran away into a nearby construction yard.

"Where the hell are we?" Kyle demanded.

"Same where. Different when." Sarah responded, looking at a billboard, which say 2007.

Sarah walked up to an approaching car, driven by four drunken men, who attempted to accost her. Without a problem, Sarah knocked them out and stole their clothes and car for her and the Reeses.

Two days later, they got a household and a cache of weapons. Their filmed arrival was viewed by the media as a mere college prank, but agent Ellison and Allison Young immediately recognized Kyle Reese's face.

_"It is said that the death of any one person is the death of an entire world. Certainly for parents, the death of their children is no less than a holocaust. In the case of my father, these words are literally true. And even though we've traveled through time, bent the rules of nature, they will keep coming for me and my brother. Keep trying to kill us. But until that day, it's gonna be one hell of a dogfight."_


	2. Episode 2

**_Episode 2: Revelations_**

_"A wise man once said, 'Know thyself.' Easier said than done. Me and my brother had nine aliases, spoken four languages, and spent three years in an adoptive family for speaking the truth. At least when we were there we could use our real names. Through it all I've always known who I am and why I'm here. Stay alive. Get prepared for the future. But lately, it's gotten harder to control it all. Even as we try to find firm ground in this new world, the battlefield shifts beneath our feet. Maybe it's all catching up to us. Maybe if you spend your life hiding who you are, you might finally end up fooling yourself."_

The Reeses were impatiently waiting for food. Well, two of the Reeses were since Cameron was standing at the oven, making pancakes. The terminator Sarah Connor was sitting at the kitchen table too, opposite to Kyle, whose son was squirming on the chair next to him. As terminator, Sarah didn't eat of course. This morning, however, Cameron had asked her to join them by courtesy. After all, it was the first one on which the girl decided to prepare breakfast for her family again after their jump forward in time.

A few minutes later, Cameron served her father and John each a plate with small towers of pancakes on them. John was already drooling as he reached for the syrup to pour half of it on his pancakes. He simply loved his sister's cooking skills. "Yay, thanks!"

"Thank you, dear." Kyle smiled at his daughter.

Cameron shrugged, winking. "No worries."

Kindhearted by nature, she made herself some pancakes only now, having provided her father and brother first. Afterward, she sat down, next to Sarah to which she turned, joking. "I guess, you don't wanna have some?"

Sarah declined with thanks, causing Kyle to sneer deprecatingly. "It cannot even eat. It's a machine, Cameron. No human."

The raven-haired's next move unsettled all three of them. Little short of defiantly, Sarah took Cameron's fork and used it to cut off a piece of a pancake on the girl's plate. Then she pierced it and shoved it into her mouth. Chewing and finally swallowing the bite, she handed the female Reese the fork back. "Thank you."

"Err...you're welcome."

Barely an hour passed before Cameron was doing the dishes, listening to another argument between John and their father in the living room. It was about her brother's impatience with all the waiting and his desire to be himself for once and not to go through the 24th extensive re-imagining. Cameron could understand him, because she wanted this herself. But other than him, his sister knew that it was necessary to survive.

Cameron became frightened when Sarah suddenly appeared next to her, grabbing a towel. "Please, don't sneak up me like this."

"I'm sorry." The terminator took charge of a wet pan.

Stuttering, Cameron asked, "Wh... What are you doing?"

"Drying the dished for you." Sarah explained and started to do so.

Cameron noticed that the raven-haired's expressions seemed somehow relaxed, even a bit happy. Although it was kinda nice to have some company, even a faked one, she didn't quite know how to handle the situation. "You're a machine. Why on earth would you help me with the dishes?"

"First of all, I'm a cybernetic organism. Of course you can say 'cyborg' though." Stating matter of factly, Sarah replied. "And secondly, because I'm built for infiltration. To help people with ordinary things like doing the housework is a very good methode to ease tension, get close with the target, and make said target trust. Moreover, people get talkative while it."

For whatever reason, Cameron found herself unable to suppress the small hint of disappointment she felt. "I see."

"Besides, it seems unfair to me that you're doing all the chore on your own." Sarah added, flashing Cameron a smile that made the teenager gasp. "Somebody should help you. And if neither your father nor your brother does so, then I will."

"Thanks." Cameron cleared her throat, reminding herself that Sarah was nothing but a machine...cybernetic organism...cyborg. No matter how genuine her smiles looked or how honest her words sounded. The terminator had just said it herself. It was all the infiltration prgramm.

All of a sudden, Kyle raised his voice. "John, you've got no idea what you're talking about!"

In the kitchen Cameron cringed before she sighed. "Do my father and my brother still fight like this in the future?"

"No." Sarah answered. "They don't."

Before Sarah could add another word Kyle stormed into the kitchen, followed by John. He turned to his children. "So here's the plan. I'll visit an old friend of mine. Enrique. You remember him? He'll get us IDs. While I'm away, I want you to stay here. You, Tin Lady, you'll protect John and Cameron. Don't let them outside."

"Tin Lady?" Sarah tilted her head, but nodded nevertheless. "Of course I will protect them. That's my mission."

"And don't you ever forget that." Kyle hissed.

Afterward, he said good bye to his kids, kissing them on their cheeks, even his sulky son. The he was gone. "I'll be back in a few hours."

Only ten minutes later, John cheered, "Awesome! C'mon, Cam. Let's go."

"What?!" His sister shook her head firmly. "No, John. Dad wants us to stay here. It's safer."

"Cameron, don't be coward." John groaned. "It'll be fun. Dad will never know."

"John, I really think that..."

Her brother interrupted the girl, pointing a finger at Sarah who was watching them in silence. "Besides, she'll protect us."

Cameron let out a releaved sigh. "John, she won't even let us out. Didn't you listen to dad?"

"I don't take orders from Kyle Reese." The terminator declared suddenly, sounding almost harshly. "The Reese siblings are the only ones I take orders from."

This statement caused John to grin mischievously. "Well, I want you to..."

"The _future _Reese siblings." Sarah cut in.

Now it was Cameron's time to smirk at her brother's annoyed face.

"Argh!" John glared at both of them. "Whatever, I don't care. I'll go. You can come with me, if you want to. If not..."

He didn't finish the sentence. Instead he put on his jacket while Cameron rolled her eyes. She hated to disobey her father. Yet she worried about her brother. "Fine, John. You won. Come on, Sarah.

"Where are we going?"

The three of them went to a nearby mall, where John was instantly taken with all the advanced technology. He had been into wires and files since he could remember and this was like paradise to him. Grotesquely, some..._thing _like Sarah Connor wasn't interesting to him.

"Okay guys, have fun." John clapped his hands, grinning from ear to ear. "See ya in about two hours. Right here, alright? Alright."

"John, wait..." Cameron wanted to shout, but he was already gone. She muttered softly, "Goddamn Idiot!"

Sarah came up to her. "This John is evidently frivolous and acts due consideration."

"So future John is smarter?" The girl asked quizzically.

"Yes and no." Sarah replied. "He deliberates more. But if a plan of him fails, he quickly gets hot-headed and does something stupid. He often feels regret and guilt. At least that's what he told me once. I believe it though."

Cameron pondered a few minutes about Sarah's words. It was true that sometimes John didn't think about his comments and actions. And now and then he hurt people with this behaviour. Yet he always apologized. Well, more often than not. "Whatever... I want to see what the fashion looks like these days."

"Oh my god!" Cameron shrieked five minutes later when they were slendering through a shop. She held up a leather-jacket. "Look at this! Isn't it cool?"

Sarah looked from the hyped teenager to the jacket and back. "It's purple."

"So what?" Cameron demanded. "I like purple."

"I know." The raven-haired responded. "Some day you told me that it's your favorite color."

Cameron was surprised by Sarah's confession. Why would she tell a terminator such personal stuff about herself? Was she... Was her future self close to Sarah? No. She nor her future self could be close to Sarah. After all, Sarah was a terminator and a terminator didn't care for anyone. It would have been poor if she was close to a terminator.

She cleared her throat and decided to change the topic. "A pity I don't have money..."

"How much does it cost?" Sarah asked, pulling out a bankroll out of the pocket of her leather-coat. "These are one thousand two hundred and fifty-three dollars."

"What the...?" Cameron gaped. "Where did you get that?"

The raven-haired tilted her head and looked at her as if her question was the dumbest one ever asked. Once more Cameron felt like a foolish, little girl in Sarah's presence, although the terminator said, "I have to provide for you. Therefore I require money. Money which is deposited in a bank."

"When did you fetch it? You were with us all the time, except for the night."

"I don't sleep."

"I see..."

Sarah smiled kindly at her and Cameron still felt like a foolish, little girl.

The following hour they spent with shopping. And despite Sarah's reservation and opinion that it wasn't necessary for her mission, Cameron persuaded her to try on several different shirts, tank tops, and jeans. The girl had to admit that Sarah looked great in as good as everything. The fabric hugged her slim body thightly and she looked damn hot this way, whereas Cameron wished not to notice. Apparently, her creators must have been rather competent with her appearance and not just with her cyborg-skills.

"I'm fat." Cameron groaned in the changing cubicle, glaring at her mirror image.

One second later, Sarah sneaked in, catching the teenager once again by surprise. "That's not true. Your weight is perfect for someone in your age. Your whole body is esthetically pleasing."

"You have to say this." Cameron shook her head, making the feeling that Sarah's flattery had caused inside her go away. "But you don't mean it."

"I do mean it. In your case it is absolutely needless to worry." Sarah's voice was strangely insistent. "I noticed that most girls respectively women have an unhealthy fixation on their weight. This can cause mental issues. So stop toturing yourself about it, please."

Cameron blinked a few times when Sarah was finally done. "That was quite a speech."

"I'm right."

"Yes, you are."

After twenty minutes, they we're sitting at a table and Sarah practically _stared _at Cameron who was shoving fries into her mouth. "You are confusing."

"Humans _are _confusing." Cameron explained, chewing. "We say something, but we do something different. We know what we should do, but we don't do it. We're confusing, irrational, open to influence, and most of all...we're emotional. We're humans."

Sarah nodded in agreement. "In the future humans often do things that are illogical to me."

"Like what?"

"Dying for someone other, for example."

Cameron licked the salt from her chapped lips. "You would die for me and my brother."

"That's because I'm programmed to protect you, even if it means my own elimination." Sarah remarked expressionless. "Moreover, I cannot die. I just can go offline."

As a reaction to Sarah's statement, Cameron folded arms and refused to look at the terminator. Sarah noted that her face was obviously a mixture of anger and hurt. "Am I right in assuming that I offended you with my words?"

"No." The girl answered, still not looking at her.

"But you seem to be offended."

"I'm not, okay?!" Cameron was aware of the fact that she irritated the terminator and that this was kinda mean of her. At the moment she didn't cared though. Further, a terminator didn't know meanness. And on top of this, Sarah had been mean at first. Cameron knew that the raven-haired was programmed to do everything for her, but she didn't need to get reminded all the time. Especially not in a moment in which she enjoyed Sarah's company.

Meanwhile, Sarah didn't know how to behave. According to her body language, Cameron Reese was upset. Yet she controverted it. "I don't understand you."

"I'm not for you to understand. You should protect me. That's it."

Sarah detected hostility. So she decided to change her tactics. "Are you still going to eat them?"

"Eh?" Cameron faced Sarah who was pointing at her fries on the table top. "Why? Don't tell me you wanna have them?"

"May I?"

"I thought you don't eat." Cameron wondered, even though she handed Sarah the fries.

Sarah picked up one frie, dipped it into the ketchup and shoved it into her mouth. "Sometimes I do for the flavor."

"The flavor?"

"Yes."

Cameron sneered, sounding a bit like her father. "Now I understand. You're using your infiltration skills in the attempt to calm me down, am I right?"

"No."

As the girl watched Sarah's attractive, peaceful face for a few moments, she relaxed indeed. She felt her own features softened. Cameron knew very well that the raven-haired lied and that she was built to lull people. But she realized that it started to work on her. Bloody jade-green eyes. She didn't even like the color. They shouldn't sparkle like that. "So you're able to taste?"

"Yes, I am."

Finally, Cameron allowed herself to fall for the terminator's lie. "Did you like my pancakes then?"

Sarah smiled, causing the teen to choke on her coke which she drank at the moment. "Yes, although the ones made by your future self taste different."

Right now Cameron's brain was simply overcharged. "I make pancakes for you in the future?"

The terminator didn't answer her. Instead Cameron could have sworn that she saw something strange flickering over Sarah's face. She looked like as if she was hunted by an old memory. Had the flicker been an _emotion_? Nah! That was impossible.

"We should leave." Sarah declared all of a sudden. "We have to meet John and go back home."

"Yeah...right."

They had to wait more than ten minutes for John at the entrance before he strolled in their direction. Cameron decided that they needed cell phones or even better, a dog leash for her brother who immidiately spotted the shopping bags Sarah was carrying. "You know that dad isn't blind, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Cameron hissed and nudged him. "Don't you worry about that. I've got a plan. Listen, I'll hide all the stuff until I've convinced dad that we need more and all-important, more stylish clothes. After all, we cannot look like freaks in school. Once I've got his permission to go shopping, these are the clothes I bought...along with some new ones probably."

John grunted amused as he discovered something. "Wait... Where did you get all the money for this."

"Sarah's in possession of lots of money."

Her brother glared at both the terminator and his sister who was grinning at him gloatingly. "Why didn't you give me any? I've seen so much cool stuff."

"You didn't ask for money before you separated from us." Sarah stated, educing a soft chuckle from Cameron. "We have to leave. Your father will be back home soon."

Little less than half an hour later, Sarah, Cameron and John were back at their house where a hopping mad Kyle was already waiting for them. His children screamed out when they saw him sitting on the couch in the living room. "DAD! Wh... Whatcha doing here?!"

"Well, right now I'm pondering whether I should bawl at you until my voice gets croaky or kill you right away." Kyle replied dangerously low. "I prohibited you specifically not to leave the house! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? EH?"

As their father stood up and approached them slowly, John and Cameron swallowed hard. They were in so much trouble. Both of them wanted to say something, but then Sarah positioned herself in front of them. "Please remain calm, Kyle Reese. I was with them and had a Glock-17 hidden in the inside pocket of my leather- coat all the time. Everything was under control."

Kyle stared at her for a few minutes, his face unreadable. Then he made a sudden beeline for the terminator and slapped her. Of course it didn't do harm to Sarah, yet Kyle caused an ugly mark on her left cheek. If Sarah wouldn't have turned her head in the direction of his drive, Kyle's fingers would have been broken now because of her 'substantial' frame.

"Don't you dare to talk to me." The father of all destiny hissed. "You're here to protect my kids, you put them in danger though."

"I did not."

"No?! What if other terminators would have seen them?" Kyle's face turned redder with every passed second. "You know what they would have done?! What..."

Sarah interrupted him without any fear. "Nothing. Skynet doesn't know they're here. There's no directive to hunt the Reese siblings."

"So wait, if we were to walk right by one..." John cut in hesitantly.

"They'll walk right by you. They don't know what you look like." Sarah finished.

Cameron clicked her tongue. "That's really awesome."

"And what if they found out who they were." Kyle demanded. "Would they all know what to do then?"

Sarah nodded. "They do."

"Awesome." Kyle sneered sarcastically.

Their 'argument' went on a little longer. But most of the time Kyle was simply yelling at his offsprings. Afterwards, he calm down a bit and told them that he didn't get the IDs, because Enrique's nephew Carlos had taken over the business. Unfortunately, he wanted the money not just immediately, but the price for the faked IDs were skyrocketing. That was when Sarah revealed the bankroll in her coat and explained that in a certain bank was a lot more deposited. Again Kyle looked rather angry. However, this time he didn't slap or shout at the raven-haired.

"Fine." Kyle inhaled deeply. "First I'll get the money and then I'll pay Carlos another visit. But this time you'll come with me."

In a group of four, they drove to the bank where Kyle draw out the needed money. Afterwards, they travelled to Enrique's nephew's house in his gang's territory. Several members of said gang were standing in the front garden, watching the arrivals closely. Kyle went inside the house while Sarah, Cameron and John stayed at the pick-up. Carlos was quite surprised to see him back so soon. He was happy though when he saw the money.

Outside, a police officer showed up on the opposite side of the street. Nervously, Cameron who was standing in front of the pick-up with Sarah and John noted that he was looking in their direction. It didn't take him long to decide to come over. The girl, a quick thinker, nudged her brother inconspicuously and whispered, "Play along."

Then she turned to Sarah. "Grab our arms and look angry."

Without asking, Sarah did as she was told, causing the Reese siblings to shiver by her furious eyes. The police officer approach them and Cameron winced and whinded, "I swear we didn't hang out with this people, Mom. We'd never take drugs and stuff."

John understood. "Honestly, Mom! We were just standing here."

"C'mon!" Sarah yelled at them. She got the human's tactics. "You don't want me to believe that! All the time..."

"Ma'am, is everything alright here?" The police officer asked.

Sarah snarled. "Alright?! No, nothing is alright, because my children are the two biggest idiots on earth!"

"Is there a chance that you'll continue this conversation somewhere other." The officer said. "At home, maybe?"

"OH GOD NO!" Cameron shrieked, looking intensively at her father who had just came out of the house. "Dad, we didn't do anything wrong. No drugs. No alcohol. We only passed. Mum thinks we've..."

"We'll talk about this once we're back home." Kyle hissed when he came up to them, comprehending the situation.

The officer looked almost relieved. "That's a good idea."

"Thanks, Officer." Sarah said, ordering Cameron and John to get inside the pick-up then. "Go ahead!"

Sarah and Kyle climbed in too and drove off. After two minutes, Kyle asked them what happened and Cameron told him everything. Afterwards, her father praised her great idea. Even John patted his sister on the shoulder briefly. Meanwhile, the girl just wondered why Sarah had followed her command so easily and without any questioning. After all, the terminator had told them that she only took orders from the future Cameron and John.

It was already late at night when Cameron went into the dark kitchen to get herself a little midnight snack. As she switched on the light, she startled. Sarah was standing by the window, staring through it. "Hi..."

The terminator nodded shortly in her direction.

Cameron was about to open the frigde when she remembered something. "You didn't answer my question."

Much to her surprise and dislike, Sarah didn't turn around to face her. Yet the terminator replied, "Which one?"

"Do I make pancakes for you in the future?"

"You should go to bed. It's late."

_"'Know thyself'. John once told me it's inscribed on the front of the temple of Apollo. The entire quote is, 'Know thyself and thou shall know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe.' That's quite a mouthful. My version is this, 'Know thyself because what else is there to know?' People hide secrets, time is a lie, the material world can disappear in an instant. It has and it will again. Our identities change. Our names, the way we look, how we act and speak. We're shape-shifters. There is no control, no constant, no shelter but the love of family and the body God gave us. And we can only hope that will always be enough."_


	3. Episode 3

Hello!

Yes, another update! *gg*

Thank you for your reviews! I'm glad that you guys like this story because honestly, I wasn't sure about the concept.

Thanks to Red Hope for making me aware of the Cameron/Allison-thing. Well, Cameron looks just like Cameron (Summer Glau), but Allison looks different. I simply borrowed her name. Yet, I'm planning to describe her appearance in one of the next chapters. Sorry, if this may have caused confusion.

Moreover...yes, John and Cameron are both 16. I know they're acting a bit childish, but it'll change soon. Besides, John isn't that mature in the series, is he? ;)

Cellen8: Thank you so much for your reviews and compliments. :) I think for a writer, the greatest tip of the hat is when somebody re-reads his/her stories. As a little thank you, I made your alert buzz twice today.

Oh, and Kyle...yap, he's an ass, but he loves his kids. Yet, he won't survive my story...probably...maybe... LoL

**_Episode 3; Lessons_**

_Sarah Connor was standing in front of a bimetallic double door, waiting for the allowance to enter. After a few seconds the doors opened to both sides with a soft hum, revealing a pretty big apartment. But in spite of its size and the modernness, it looked really welcoming. The living room was the biggest room, bordering an open kitchen. Warm colors, a matching dark carpet, personal stuff like pictures everywhere._

_"Good morning, Sarah." Cameron, who was working in the kitchen section greeted the raven-haired._

_Smiling, Sarah replied, "Good morning. How did you sleep?"_

_"Very good. Thanks." Now the Reese woman prepared a pan. "Will you join me for breakfast? I'll make some pancakes for you too."_

_Both knew that Sarah would never refuse the invitation. "With pleasure."_

_Cameron and Sarah were eating together at the breakfast table as a reporter showed up and informed his leader about the newest events. The whole time he glanced at the eating and smiling terminator. His disgust was clearly readable on his face. Cameron thanked him and sent him away. Afterwards, the two looked at each other and shrugged. By now they didn't care about what others thought of their friendship._

_"What's on the agenda today?" Cameron asked, using the usual morning line of her deceased father._

_Sarah swallowed her bite before she answered, "Patrolling."_

_"I know."_

_"I know you do."_

_They smiled at each other._

_"You'll visit me afterwards?" Eyes, full of hope and affection._

_"I always do, Cam."_

___________________

_"When John and I were little, before bed dad used to read us fairy tales. One night he read us a folk tale called, 'The Golem of Prague' the story of a clay monster made by a Rabbi to protect the Jews of the city. What he failed to remember was that end of the story the Golem turns on its maker and kills him as well as the rest of the town. We didn't sleep for months. Dad went to us and tried to tell us it wasn't real, that he'd made it all up. Somehow, that made it all worse."_

Two days ago, at the city dump, a garbage man picked up what looked like a skull. Yet, it was obviously not the skull of a human. This thing was made out of gleaming metal and seemed to derive from a sci-fi movie. The man kept it as a novelty item, nevertheless. He had no clue that it was a terminator's skull. Cromartie's, bare of human flesh. It had traveled through time with the Reeses and Sarah. The following night Cromartie's head would re-activate and send a transmission to its headless body, which would go about the process of murdering two people in order to successfully retrieve its skull, thus enabling him to resume his hunt for the Reese siblings.

Cameron Reese was sitting at the kitchen table, doing her homework. Once in a while, she looked out of the window and then she always sighed heavily, because of this beautiful, bright afternoon. An afternoon, which she spent inside. She could have enjoyed the sun outside, lying in the grass, hanging out with her new found friends, and all the other things her brother was probably doing right now.

But the female Reese sibling, wise and reasonable, refused to have fun and did maths instead. Besides, some people in this world actually thought that it was quite amusing to juggle with figures. Well, Cameron was certainly not such a freak. If anything, she was pissed off with all the digits. The calculated results were incorrect, no matter how often she tried to do them. Finally, her frustration culminated in throwing her pen away and swearing like a sailor.

Fortunately, her father wasn't present, but getting some transactions done. He would have been highly disappointed with his good daughter. Again. Whereas more than a whole week had passed since she and John had sneaked out, Kyle was still a bit peeved about this. However, he had allowed them to go out, although on condition that they took a weapon with them if so. Or their protector Sarah Connor alternatively.

Of course, John didn't want to meet somebody with his official mother in tow. That's why he had left the house with a gun in the waistband of his jeans. Despite his occasional dullness, Cameron hadn't really assumed that her brother would do somethings stupid with it. Yet, she had warned him.

"All right?" Sarah asked all of a sudden, standing directly behind Cameron's back and causing her to startle once more.

The teenager turned her upper body around to face the terminator. "I told you not to sneak up on me! I truly hate it when somebody does that. So _please_, make a noise next time. Or even better, approach me from the front."

"I'm sorry." The raven-haired apologized, stepping beside her target. "I'll try to put you on your guard from now on."

Cameron rolled her eyes at Sarah's response before she demanded, a lot more harshly than she had intended to, "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing in particular. I just wanted to ask you if something is wrong, because I heard you groaning and cursing." Sarah answered, holding out a pen to her. "Here's your writing utensil. I picked it up."

Immediately, Cameron felt guilty for her rather 'unfriendly' words. After all, it wasn't the terminator's fault that the bloody maths was driving her crazy and making her moody. Oddly embarrassed, the girl took the pen from Sarah, avoiding her sparkling eyes. "Thanks..."

She watched how the raven-haired turned to leave. But before Cameron knew what she was doing, she already called after her, "Can you help me with my homework? It shouldn't be a problem to you. I mean, you've got a super computer as brain."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's not part of my mission. You'll have to do it on your own."

"Excuse me?" Cameron's eyes were palm-sized.

The teenager was shocked and speechless until Sarah flashed an almost_ roguish_ smile at her, saying, "Just kidding. Of course I will help you."

Cameron glared at her for a few seconds before she cracked a smile too and teased her protector, "One day, you'll bring me to laugh myself to death. And then you'll get into a lot of trouble. But for now, come and have a seat. I need you."

She chuckled softly, not noticing Sarah's expression at the last sentence. However, the terminator walked over to the table and finally sat down on a chair next to Cameron. "What's your problem?"

"Well, this all is my problem." The girl sighed dramatically, showing Sarah the sheet of paper with the different tasks on it. Many calculations were crossed out and a few pictures and patterns were scribbled on the margin. "I can't do it. Obviously, I'm way too dumb for it."

"Don't say that." Sarah told her firmly and Cameron noted that somehow, Sarah didn't seem to like it when she cheapened herself. "You're not 'way too dumb for it'. In fact, you have absolutely no problem with doing such things in the future. Right now, you're simply thinking too complicated. Hand me another piece of paper and a pen and I'll show you how to solve this. You'll see it's very easy."

A bit stunned, Cameron gave the raven-haired a blank sheet of paper and her pen. Sarah thanked her. Afterwards, she wrote the first task down and started to explain the first step to do it. Cameron watched attentively and barely recognized how close she was to the terminator at the moment. Subconsciously, she smelled the perfume though, winding down more and more at its scent.

Patiently, Sarah did the task and explained everything to Cameron while it. What she was doing. Why it had to be done the way she had done it. She'd do it twice if the Reese girl didn't get it the first time. And after every finished task, Sarah wanted her to explain it to her and to do it on her own again to check if she had indeed understood it. So they worked off the entire homework together. When they were done, Cameron was exhausted, but happy nevertheless. "I got it. I really got it. Thank you, Sarah. I owe you one."

"Forget about it." Sarah replied, shrugging and showing her learning about human idioms at the same time. "You should relax now, have an airing. But take a gun and your cell phone with you."

"I have a better idea." Cameron declared seriously, yet smirking. "I'll take _you_ with me."

The terminator tilted her head. "Why? Your brother said a gun is 'cooler'."

"My brother is an idiot." The girl grimaced. "Don't listen to him. I think you're _much_ cooler."

Sarah smiled warmly at Cameron, who swallowed at the sight. "Thank you."

"You... You're welcome." The teenager stuttered. "Besides, I don't like guns. Can't even handle one. In fact, I do hate them."

"I know." Sarah stated, nodding, causing Cameron to wonder once again. "You reject to practice violence. Nevertheless, you have to be aware of how to use weapons. For your future it is quite important to have knowledge about. Not because you actually take part in fights on the battlefield, but because you develope the resistance arms further all the time. It wouldn't do any harm if you knew to aim and shoot now, though. In case, I'm not near you. You should know how to protect yourself."

Cameron wasn't exactly sure what to say. She was mostly astounded by the terminator's avowal about her future self and her future self's skills. Apparently, the prospective Cameron Reese was pretty intelligent and had to do many signifying things. However, the present one was worried and simply felt overwhelmed, scared to underachieve and to fail the entire world.

"Did you listen to me?" Sarah requested after noticing the teenager's absent look.

Blinking in confusion for a few seconds, Cameron snapped back to reality. "Sure... You said that I should learn how to use a gun."

Sarah nodded. "Yes. As early as possible."

"And who's going to teach me, eh?" The girl wanted to know, frowning. "I don't wanna ask dad for help. He probably thinks that I know how to handle every kind of weapon. After all, me and John almost spent our whole life in the presence of soldiers. Neither can I ask my brother, because...well, because I would be afraid of being shot. So I've got no one to teach me."

Puzzled, she watched Sarah raising an eyebrow, before the raven-haired suggested, "What about me?"

"Would you do that for me?" Cameron was surprised at Sarah's offer. Yet, she wouldn't decline.

"Of course." Again, the terminator showed her captivating smile.

The girl licked her lips, nervously. "Alright, but I'm bound to say that I might screw up. Seriously, the last time I held a gun in the hand, someone got winged."

"A male German sheep dog." Sarah determined. "You hit its paw. It wouldn't let you pet it for a week. You used to call it 'Derek'."

"How the heck do you know all of that?!"

Sarah's answer was short and simple. "You told me."

Not sure of what to think of this disturbing situation, Cameron folded her arms, snorting. "Is there anything I...my future self did _not _tell you?"

"Yes."

Sarah didn't keep on talking. Instead she looked rather intensively at the female Reese who became more and more upset. It didn't please her that the terminator knew so much about her. Moreover, her past and her upcoming future. On the other hand, her future self seemed to trust Sarah enough to tell her such personal things. Was it possible that they were indeed close to each other?

"So?" Cameron cleared her throat. "You're going to teach me or not?"

"Of course." This time, Sarah didn't smile. She didn't even smirk, causing the teenager to feel cold inside, somehow. "Fortunately, the house is a bit outlying. No direct neighbors. We can use the backyard to practice. Do we have empty tin cans? They'll serve as aims."

Cameron grimaced. "Can't we use apples? Tin cans are...gross."

"So says your father." Sarah commented coolly.

Confused, Cameron stared at the terminator, before she opened her eyes wide in consternation. "No! I didn't mean it like _that_."

The raven-haired nodded. "I know."

"Sarah, I'm serious." Cameron instisted. "They're gross, because they're sticky and smelly."

Taking apples out of a bowl on the kitchen counter, Sarah told her once more, "I know. You'd never say such things about a terminator."

Cameron wasn't completely convinced that Sarah believed her. However, the raven-haired went already past her to the back door. "Let's go."

All of a sudden, Cameron was doubtful if it was a good idea to let Sarah teach her how to handle a gun, despite that the teenager had been excited and elated at first. Not because of the bloody gun, but the terminator's company.

Five minutes later, Cameron and Sarah were standing in the backyard and the raven-haired pulled out her Glock-17, holding it out towards Cameron, saying, "This is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. It's quite simple to use. It's not very effective, though, but you'd need a Milkor MGL to really harm a terminator. A very unwieldy, complicate rifle. So the Glock is a good start. You can use it for distraction and to gain time until I arrive."

Cameron took the gun in her hand and turned it around to view it from every side. It was matt black-painted and looked rather unspectacular. Yet, she knew it was deadly and could kill someone in a split second.

Sarah explained, "The features include a "Safe Action" Trigger System, the overall lenght amounts to one hundred and eighty-six millimeter, the height to one hundred and thirty-eight millimeter, the width to thirty millimeter, the line of sight to one hundred and sixty-five millimeter, and the barrel length to one hundred and fourteen millimeter. If it is unloaded it weighs six hundred and twenty-five gram, and loaded it weighs nine hundred and five gram. The magazine can either be a seventeen, nineteen or thirty-three one. To pull the trigger two point five kilograms pressure are needed."

"You don't expect me to keep all that in mind, do you?" Cameron folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, skeptically.

The terminator smiled down at her, reassuringly. "No, not yet."

Cameron inhaled deeply as she noticed that suddenly Sarah appeared to be 'happy' again. As a result, she herself relaxed a bit at the easing tension. If the raven-haired was in a good mood, the girl indeed enjoyed and appreciated her company. Yes, she believed that a terminator - at least _this_ terminator - could be in a good mood, just as in a bad one. After all, her laptop had its good and bad days, too.

"Now, give it to me. First, you'll learn how to unload and load the magazine, how to handle the safety, and how to rack the Glock, finally."

Slowly, Sarah demonstrated her student the things she had just said and afterwards, she assigned the teenager to do the same. This was the easy part, which came naturally to Cameron. Without difficulties, she managed to drop out the magazine, to put it back in, and to rack the first bullet. Yet, she was tied up in knots the whole time, fearing the impending tough part.

"Very well." Sarah nodded in approval, before she went to an old bench a few meter away and placed one of the apples on the backrest of it. "Turn off the safety. I'll show you how to hold the gun and how you have to position yourself."

Cameron did as she was told and waited with the Glock-17 in her hand, until Sarah returned and came up behind her, sounding amused when she said, "Please, don't startle. It's just me."

The Reese girl assumed that Sarah hinted at the whole 'Don't-sneak-up-on-me' thing. She snorted softly, yet suppressed a grin. But it qickly faded once Sarah grabbed her hips and adjusted her. She carefully kicked her feet in the right position and Cameron allowed the terminator willingly to do this all. She was too distracted by the hands on her waist, anyway. To her own surprise, Sarah's grip was gingerly and tender.

"Raise the gun." Sarah lowered her head so that her mouth was next to the girl's ear. "Your hold on the handle grip is too tight. You have to loosen it."

"Like this?" Cameron's voice was husky.

"Exactly." The terminator answered. "Try to aim at the centre of the apple."

Nervously, Cameron licked her lips and pointed the barrel at the fruit. She didn't even recognized that she held her breath, until Sarah instructed her, "Breathe. Your tensed. Relax your muscles and nerves."

"Easier said than done." Yet, she tried. But a few seconds later, she heard Sarah's voice once again, saying, "Do you shut your left eye?"

"Yes." Cameron replied. "So you aim better, right?"

She sensed the terminator shaking her head. "Quite the opposite. It skews your vision. Open up both eyes."

Cameron nodded brifly, before she aimed at the apple again. "Okay."

"I want you to shoot now. So release the safety catch." Sarah ordered. "But you must not quiver your hand if you feel the tremor from firing. Otherwise, your sight will quiver. You have to keep the sights straight in line."

"Okay..."

Finally, Cameron fired for the first time in three years. The shot rang loudly in her ears, and she quashed the urge to flinch. However, she cheered as soon as she saw that she had struck the apple, perfectly. "Oh my...I hit it! I hit it! Get an eyeful of this, Sarah!"

The terminator looked affectionately down at the beaming teenager. She knew that it was nothing special that the Reese girl had hit the target this time. After all, Sarah had helped her a lot. And the next apples would be more difficult. Yet, Sarah wouldn't ruin one of Cameron's far too few lifts. The teenager needed them to grow in confidence and to stop running herself down. "Good job!"

"Thank you." Slowly, Cameron settled down. "May I try again?"

"Yes, of course. Wait a sec." Sarah nodded and took another apple in her hand. Afterwards, she went to the bench and placed the second apple on its backrest. Then she positioned herself some meters away from there and indicated to Cameron to shoot.

Confident at first, Cameron released the safety catched and raised the gun, just to realize that she missed Sarah standing behind her. It had been easier with the terminator, who had whispered the introductions into her ear. Yet, she decided to give her best, because she wanted to impress her teacher. She tried to make sure that she did everything like earlier, like Sarah had told her. The position, the relaxing, the aiming. Everything.

Therefore, it was pretty frustrating that she missed the bloody apple. "Fuck! Alright...that was bad luck. I'll try again. So watch out."

Once more, Cameron attempted to hit the bloody apple. Once more, she failed to do so. She tried it several more times, execrating her target, the red apple. But she never succeeded. By now, she was annoyed, disappointed and any enthusiasm had flown away. She felt insecure and uneasy. Moreover, she was sure she had made a fool of herself...in front of Sarah.

In the meantime, Sarah detected the girl's sad expression and her sulky-looking. "Come on, Cam. Give it another shot."

Cameron wasn't sure about the strange feeling that flooded her from head to toe as Sarah used her nickname, she liked it, though. She looked at the raven-haired and nodded. She would give it another shot. She would give _the apple_ a shot. And finally, she hit the damn apple.

"Hallelujah!" Cameron sighed heavily. "About time!"

Smirking, Sarah went towards the girl until she stopped next to her. "Well done!"

"Nonsense. I hit two apples, but needed seven bullets to do so." Cameron snorted. "Absolutely miserable."

"Well, at least you didn't shoot a dog." Sarah _laughed _and soon Cameron joined in, before the terminator got serious again, declaring, "You just have to practice. That's all. But let's call it a day for now. Agreed?"

"Yes!" Immediately, Cameron handed Sarah the Glock-17 back. Latter put it into the waistband of her jeans.

Cameron watched her movements and murmured, "Hopefully, you'll always be with me."

"You never can tell." Sarah replied, somehow thoughtfully. And then she did something that boot the tension between them extremely; she placed her right hand fully on the side of Cameron's neck, touching the back of it with her fingertips while her thumb rested on the girl's jaw.

Instantly, their eyes met. Black-brown and jade-green. Swallowing hard, Cameron noted that the terminator's were glistening again, appearing so profound. Further, she realized that it was the very first time their skin touched and that Sarah's was amazingly warm and soft. In the meantime, Sarah acquired data about the Cameron Reese's vital functions. Raised blood pressure, fitful breathing, excessive body temperature, and salt content. But mostly, she was fascinated by the feeling of Cameron's aorta pulsating under her palm. It had been a long time.

Cameron was shocked to feel this way, but at this very moment she just wanted to reach out for her protector and _kiss_ her. She frowned at her own thoughts. Wait, what? No! She couldn't possibly want to kiss a terminator. A machine. It would have been _soooo _wrong, for _soooo _many reasons. Yet, she was somehow drawn to Sarah.

"Did... Did I also tell you that I cried?" Cameron asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Because of Derek, I mean."

She gasped softly when Sarah nodded and spoke under her breath, "Yes. You felt horrible. Not even John could cheer you up."

"Why do I tell you all this?" Cameron asked, desperately wanting to know it.

Sarah hesitated, but opened her mouth, finally. "We..."

"CAMERON?" John yelled all of a sudden, causing his sister to flinch and Sarah to withdraw her hand. Three seconds later, he came through the backdoor. "There you are! Hi!"

Cameron forced herself to smile, despite the fact that she could have strangled her brother right now. "Hi, John. What's up?"

"Not much. I was in the mall." He shrugged. "But later you have to take a look at the stuff I bought, okay? Uhm...whatcha doing out here?"

"Sarah taught me how to handle a gun." His sister answered a bit too quickly. "So nothing special. Nothing strange or disturbing."

John raised an eyebrow. "Aha... Nah, whatever! What about dinner?"

"Yeah, right. Give me fifteen minutes, okay?"

Cameron was about to go inside the house when Sarah stated with a monotone voice, "As far as I know about human manners, you say 'Please' and 'Thank you' if somebody does something for you."

The Reese siblings stared at the raven-haired. Finally, John turned to his sister, shamefacedly. "Sorry... Would you cook dinner, please?"

"Yes, no problem."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, John."

John, Sarah and Cameron went into the house. Each of them lost in different thoughts. In the last two weeks, John had noted that Sarah was rather protectively over his sister. Way more than over him. Sarah was confused and worried that she allowed herself to care that much for the young version of Cameron Reese. Even so much that she had almost told her about the things between the years 2024 to 2027. And Cameron was convinced to find out those things.

_"Not every version of the Golem story ends badly. In one, the Golem's maker destroys his creature before it can destroy the world. In another, the monster is even a hero, destroying all those that seek to harm his maker. Somehow, the foolish pride of mankind makes us believe that anything we create we can control. We animate them with magic and never truly know what they will do. Often they oppose us. But now and then, they remain with us until the end."_


	4. Episode 4

**_Episode 4; Sometimes you can't help but to break the rules_**

_"On the night our parents, Kyle Reese and Katherine Brewster, first met, she told him words he remembers to this day. She meant them as a warning, he thinks of them as words to live by. She told him of an apocalypse yet to come. Like a Pandora's box, she unpacked every horror, every evil, every dark thing that haunts our future. 'Listen,' mom said to him. 'Listen and understand the machine is out there. It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop ever until you are dead.'"_

While Cameron prepared dinner for John, their father and herself, a tall and pretty creepy figure strolled through the streets. He wore a mask, a hooded sweatshirt and long sleeved clothing, making it unable to see his face. The figure was Cromartie, who hid his robotic appearance, and the terminator made his way to the nearest hospital.

"Can I help you, Sir?" The desk clerk asked uncertain.

Cromartie didn't even bother to look at the blond-curled woman and marched to his aspiration, knocking out a hospital employee and a security guard. In the end he escaped with large quantities of Type O Positive Plasma. Afterwards, he went to the workplace of a scientist, breaking in. The man attempted to call the police, but Cromartie stopped him by lifting him up into the air.

Struggling, the scientist gasped, "Wh...at do you want from...me?!"

The terminator dropped him without saying a word. Instead, he got himself something to write with and walked over to the wall. Then the scientist watched in amazement when Cromartie wrote complex scientific equation on it and finally demanded, "Do you think the equation is possible?"

The man shuddered at the metallic voice. "I... I can do it...but I'll need large quantities of blood."

Cromartie showed him the blood samples that he had stolen from the hospital. "Is this sufficient?"

"Good God..."

The sickle-shaped moon bathed Cameron's room in soft light, dip-painting it in grey. It was late at night, but the teenager was lying in her bed wide awake. Sighing, she looked up at the ceiling and recapitulated today's events in her mind for the tenth time now. She just couldn't stop to think about her protector, Sarah Connor who had taught her a lot this day. They had practically spent the _whole_ afternoon with each other. And Cameron had enjoyed nearly every minute of it.

She still wondered what the terminator had been about to say, before John had interrupted them. Somehow, Cameron craved for the answer. But what really nagged at her was the fact that she had wanted to_ kiss_ Sarah. Even if just for a few seconds.

The Reese girl was rather ashamed of feeling so, because of several factors. Though, the most weighty factors were that a) Sarah was terminator, a machine, the enemy, and a soulless killer, b) she, Cameron, was definitely _not _into women. Especially not if those women were - or at least _appeared_ - old engough to pose as her mother. No matter how delicate her aggressive, yet affectionate features may have looked. And c) she would break every conceivable rule by falling for such a soulless, female killer.

Once more, Cameron tried to fall asleep and therefore shut her eyes, tightly. Immediately, Sarah's face popped up in front of her, causing the teenager to groan in pure frustration. She opened her eyes again and threw the bedcover away. Then she stood up and after a few moments of hesitating, she made her way downstairs into the kitchen where the terminator was already sitting at the table in a stiff attitude. Her underarms rested on the table top.

Cameron leaned against the kitchen counter. "Hi."

The raven-haired refused to look at her, but stared straightforward with empty eyes.

Cameron didn't like it when Sarah behaved like this. It made her aware of what was hidden under the warm, soft skin. Namely cold, hard metal. Moreover, she surely didn't like it when Sarah ignored her. This and her own confusion and fear caused the anger inside her to rise. She finally hissed, "So now you don't wanna talk with me, eh? Thanks!"

After hearing her target's harsh words, the terminator turned her head to look at the girl. Then she tilted said head in a way that Cameron found herself wanting to apologize to Sarah who said with a monotone voice, "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Stop it." Cameron whispered, narrowing her doe eyes. "Just stop it, okay? I hate this."

Sarah didn't get it and asked, "What do you mean?"

The teenager folded her arms and snorted, "One minute you act like a real human. You smile, laugh, and your damn eyes sparkle. You show emotions for God's sake! And... And the next minute you...you're _dead_."

Swallowing hard, she watched Sarah sigh while a sad expression appeared on her face. Emotions. "You do not understand, _Cam_."

A pleasant shiver ran down Cameron's spine, but she forced herself to ignore it. Though, she backed off the counter and walked to the table. There she sat down on a chair, opposite to Sarah. Only the table separated them. She pleaded, "Well, then help me understand. Earlier you wanted to tell me something. What was it?"

They looked at each other for quite a while. Cameron was under the impression that Sarah thought very hard about an answer. But she wasn't sure whether about an honest one or just a comforting lie. So in trying to encourage the terminator, Cameron leaned forward and took Sarah's hands in her own. When their bare skin touched, the girl instantly felt some kind of electricity rushing through her body. "Please, Sarah?"

"I cannot tell you." The raven-haired shook her head, slowly. Yet, she didn't withdraw her hands, but instead looked down at them held by Cameron's. The girl's hands appeared to be small and a bit palish in comparison to Sarah's big and tanned ones. However, they fitted, perfectly. But Sarah had already noticed that long ago. "I would change the future by doing so."

"But mind that you already told me things about the future." Cameron remarked, squeezing her protector's hands. "According to this you've changed it by now."

"I told you harmless, unimportant things." Sarah specified. "More or less... I shouldn't have told you about yourself. It is very complicated."

"Sarah..."

"I can't." The terminator interrupted her. "I'm sorry."

The Reese girl sighed heavily and tried in vain to hide the hurt look on her face. Afterwards, she quickly pulled her hands away from the raven-haired's , overpowering the coldness in her chest. She didn't knew that Sarah felt pretty much the same by the lack of contact. "Fine. I can't command you to air the laundry."

"I'm not sure what this phrase means." Sarah said. "I think I understand though, thus I thank you."

Cameron offered her a bleak smile. "You're welcome. Just... Just answer me one question, okay?"

"Which one?" Sarah tilted her head at her target's request.

The girl took a deep breathe before she asked in a whisper, "Are we close to each other in the future?"

Again, the terminator faltered, but finally confessed, "Yes."

Cameron gasped softly, remembering her short desire to kiss Sarah. "_How_ close?"

"I answered you _one _question. " Sarah smiled sadly. "And that was already one too much. Please don't coerce me."

"I won't." Cameron promised, licking her dry lips. Even though she wanted nothing more than to get to know what kind of relationship they shared. Yet, there was still something other she kept on wondering about since Sarah had arrived. "So you can't tell me about the future, me, and..._us_. But what about you? Are you allowed to tell me about your past?"

The protector was surprised, yet nodded. "Yes, I am. Albeit there's not much to comment on."

"Do it anyway."

Sarah smiled warmly ta her, but seemed to be rather depressed. "I doubt you want to hear this."

"I want to." Was Cameron's only reply before she waited for the raven-haired to start telling her biography.

Latter inhaled deeply. Not because she would have needed the air, but because she actually savored breathing. "To be honest, I was created by Skynet as the replacement of a woman named Lena Heady. She was a member of the Resistance. My mission was to pose as her so that I could infiltrate your and your brother's base and...kill you. However, I got unmasked and was deactivated before I could harm you."

Cameron was pretty taken aback by the raven-haired's confession. Her present protector had been an assassin with the assignment to terminate her and John. Well, at least Sarah had been right. The Reese girl had not wanted to hear something like that. "What... What happened then? I mean, if nobody would have re-activated you, you surely wouldn't sit here with me."

"Everybody, included your brother, voted for my immediate elimination. But you convinced John to give your new project a go. You attempted to switch terminators over, to make them good. You thought that they could help humans and fight with them against Skynet. The year was 2024 when I joined the Resistance."

Silent and with an absent look, Cameron pondered about what Sarah had just told her and finally realized, "You were built to kill me and my brother, and yet I sent you back to protect us. I must indeed trust you if I'm doing so."

The terminator wouldn't dare to tell the girl that she had not been the one who had sent her back into the year 1999, but John Reese. Also, the terminator wouldn't dare to tell the girl _why_ she had not been the one. "You should go to bed. It's late."

"It's not the first time you're saying this." Cameron stated. "You said that when I asked you if I make pancakes for you."

"Yes."

"You're trying to avoid my questions."

"Yes."

"I wonder why."

"Don't."

Cameron sighed and stood up. "I'll go to bed now. Good night, Sarah."

"Good night, Cameron."

Sarah watched the girl leave and her eyes lingered at the door, even as Cameron had gone by now. After a few minutes the raven-haired allowed herself to let out a heavy sigh on her own. She knew she had to stay focused. Her mission was to protect the Reese siblings. But it was also her mission to save Cameron Reese. To save her from herself. Something she had failed to do in 2027.

Meanwhile, Cromartie took off his clothes in front of the scientist, who was both amazed and horrified at the metallic endoskeleton of the terminator. Silently, the man pointed at the bathtub which was filled with blood. The terminator dipped himself in it, and a few minutes later, he emerged from the blood bath. He was covered in newly formed skin and living tissue again.

The scientist wanted to run away, yet couldn't stop watching. He licked his dry lips when Cromartie opened his lids and revealed red eyes. Those eyes shifted to him and five minutes later, the man was dead. He had no eyes anymore, because the terminator had taken them before he destroyed all evidence of the scientist's work. "Thank you for your time, Professor."

The next morning, Sarah walked into the kitchen, where the Reese family was having breakfast. Kyle and John spotted the newspaper in the terminator's right hand first and foremost while Cameron registered that her face was free of any emotions and her posture appeared more stiff than ever. Before anyone of the three Reeses could say something, the raven-haired declared, "Cromartie is here, now."

Kyle, John and Cameron were dumbstruck by this bad news. Roughing his light brown hair, Kyle demanded, "What makes you think that?"

Sarah handed him the newspaper and pointed at a certain article, mutely. He read it out loud. It was about an arsonist causing a fire at a dock in Oakland, which resulted in the re-routing of a shipment of coltan to docks in Los Angeles. But afterwards, he looked bewildered at his children's asserted protector. "So what? What has your little robot-friend Cromartie to do with this?"

While John had decided to stay out of his father's opinion and behavior towards Sarah from day one, Cameron showed him her disapproval upfronted by glaring at him, snorting, and sometimes even couched it in terms. "Their friendship has to be an undying one if they even shot at each other."

Kyle compressed his lips, saying nothing. Meanwhile, Sarah went on, "I'm not friends with Cromartie. Any way, coltan is one of the primary elements used in the endoskeleton of future terminators models."

"Thanks for the information, Tin Lady." Kyle grunted, "However, that's no positve proof."

"There's another, definitely positive proof." Sarah told them. "Follow me. I'll show you the news footage from our arrival into the year 2007."

The four of them went into the living room, where the terminator showed them said news footage. She zoomed in on a fragment that appeared to be Cromartie's head. "We should take action soon."

"No way." Kyle spitted, forcefully. "We'll head for Mexico. Away from Cromartie. Away from danger."

Now, John protested, being tired of running away. He argued, "No, it's time to stop running and start fighting. After all, Cameron and I are the future leaders of mankind. What sense does it make if we're hiding all the time then?!"

"John, don't you dare to start this arguement with me all over again." His father said, trying to stay calm. "You'll be the leaders of mankind. Yes, I know that, but you're not them yet. You still have a lot to learn before you're able to...go to war."

Cameron sensed that her brother was about to get loud and she knew that then, they would have no chance to convince their father to fight. So she intervined, "Listen, Dad. John's right...somehow. Sooner or later, we'll have to test our skills in the field. And wouldn't it be better if then we would only fight against _one _terminator, instead of an _army_? Moreover, at the moment, Cromartie will be weak. Do really want to wait until he's back to full strength and searches for us?"

Kyle pondered about his daughter's words for quite a while. He finally said, defeated, "Alright. Let's hunt down the damn shipment."

The four of them drove to the warehouse and sat C-4 charges to disable Cromartie and destroy the coltan. When they arrived, they saw a truck leaving and shortly afterwards, John spotted some men in boxers and undershirts. He realized, "Somebody just stole the coltan!"

"The truck!" Kyle snarled. "Qick! We'll follow it."

They hopped into the car and sped up, following the truck to another warehouse. During the ride, Sarah explained that coltan was used because it had a much higher melting point than the endoskeleton had used on the T-600 models. At the warehouse, they looked into it through an open window, noticing military tags and watching a short dispute between some of the men. Sarah whispered, "That one over there, Carter, is a terminator, but it's not Cromartie."

Kyle coursed, "Shit! That's it. We're going."

"What?" John asked softly.

His father rolled his eyes. "John, the plan was to hunt Cromartie. That's not Cromartie."

"So?"

"So you just want to walk in there and kick their asses and go for pancakes? It doesn't work like that. We're outnumbered."

John pointed at Sarah. "We have her."

"We don't know what's going on. That thing has real estate. It has employees. Who knows how many more are in there. There's four of us." He stopped, but added, "I'm not saying we run, but we need to step back, see what's going on."

"So we run." John stated, "In other words."

Kyle turned to Cameron and the terminator behind him. "Will you tell him to get in the car?"

"It's too dangerous." Sarah said, "We should go."

Cameron sighed. "John, they're right."

John glared at all of them. "It's always too dangerous. It's war. War is dangerous."

"If you die...they win." Kyle hissed. "Now come."

Kyle, Cameron and Sarah started to walk towards their vehicle. But then Cameron turned around with the intent to console her brother and saw him climbing into the warehouse. "John!"

Immediately, Kyle swirled around, seeing his son disappear inside the warehouse. With his blood running cold, he stormed to the window, ready to climb in, too. But Sarah stopped him, holding him back by his shoulder. Cameron rushed next to her father's side, and together the three of them watched John, who tiptoed through the now empty depot. He made a beeline for the truck in which he climbed in and planted and a cell phone on one of some boxes.

"He wants to track the movement of the coltan." Sarah concluded.

Kyle looked at her, clenching his teeth. "You're sure?"

"Yes."

"They're coming back!" Cameron whispered hotly.

They watched the men and the terminator approaching the truck, while John hid behind the boxes. The crew locked up, got into the truck and pulled out of the warehouse. And John was trapped inside.

Kyle let out some courses that caused Cameron to turn bright red. She went pale quite quickly again though when one of Carter's Crew came up to them with a gun in his hand and shouted, "Hey! What are you doin' here, huh?"

Sarah shoved the young girl behind her back, and was about to make a beeline for the man, but was stopped by Kyle Reese's hand on her stomach. The Terminator stopped and watched him slowly approaching Carter's inferior. She could hear Cameron gasp behind her. Kyle held his hands up, asking the man friendly if he had seen a dachshund puppy. Then he made use of the man's confusion and punched him right into the face, knocking him out. Afterwards he simply turned around and said, "We'll take him with us. Now let's get moving!"

They returned home to track John via the internet. But all of a sudden the signal went dead, and Kyle threw a fit, banging the keyboard against the table. "What the hell...?! Fuck! What shall we do now? I lost him! I lost John! I can't believe I let him talk me into this!"

Cameron grabbed his upper arm, forcing him to look at her. "Dad, simmer down!" She lowered her voice now. "John is fine. I know it. We'll find him, bring him back and then I'll make us supper, okay? But please calm down."

"You try to open your hands just a little..." Kyle looked weary at his daughter. "...and it's too soon."

"Is it?" Sarah asked. "The world ends in four years. Your children need to learn to be more assertive in the near furture to lead mankind effectively."

Both, Kyle and Cameron, looked at the raven-haired. Though they remained silent.

About ten minutes later Kyle and Sarah were in the garage where Kyle hit the tied up man of Carter's crew several times and demanded information. He threated to torture him until he talked. Despite the pain, the man refused to say a word. So Kyle left him with Sarah. "Do your thing."

The man sneered. "Oh no, please don't hurt me, Lady. I'm so scared."

Sarah detected the sarcasm in his voice, but didn't care for it. "Don't call me lady." Then a mischievous smile appared on her face.

"Where's Sarah?" Cameron asked her father when he came back into the house.

He briefly looked at her, unaffected. "Still in the garage. Probably beating the living daylights out of the guy."

Cameron noticed how she hated to think of her protector this way. In her eyes Sarah was kind and patient, and no roboter that beat and killed people without a second thought, even if she was built just to be this roboter. A few minutes passed before the terminator too came back into the house and simply said, "Depot 37."

"Good job." Kyle replied. "You may want to wash your hands now."

At first Sarah tilted her head, but then inspected her hands. They were bloody. When she looked up again, Cameron didn't face her.

Half an hour later Sarah walked through a minefield in the middle of the desert, leaving their informant in it while Kyle waited in the truck. After an argument between father and daughter whether if Cameron would stay at home or come with them, Kyle, Sarah and Carter's inferior had left. They had been on their way to an old gunnery range where Depot 37 was. But then Kyle had stopped at the mindefiel and had told Sarah to get rid of the guy.

"It would have been faster to kill him." Sarah stated once she was back in the truck. "Sometimes you seem inefficient."

"I'm not for you to understand." Kyle answered, starting the engine. "I do things you know? Stupid, illogical, inefficient things. Humans. Get used to it."

Sarah nodded. "Yes, I know. I already talked with Cameron about humans and their behavior."

"Stay away from my kids." Kyle hissed.

Then they were both silent until they arrived to find Depot 37 empty. It was when Sarah confirmed, "This location is the future site of a terminator-building factory. Coltan becomes rare in the future because of explosions and was stored here in the nuclear fallout bunker tp protect it."

Suddenly Kyle's cellphone rang and when he answered the call he got excited to hear his son's voice rambling, "Dad, I've got no idea where I am. A Depot one of the men said. There's a big door. This terminator, Carter, is here. He killed everybody. But he doesn't move now. He does nothing. He..."

"John." His father interrupted him. "John, listen to me. I know where you are. Me and Sarah are on the other side of the door."

Now Sarah intervened. "What exactly is with Carter?"

"John, what did you say about the terminator?"

"It's like he's frozen." Came the answer.

Kyle blinked. "He's frozen?"

"Yeah, when the door shut, it's like he went to sleep or something."

"Standby." Sarah declared. "He completed his mission. He powered down to standby mode until he's moved or triggered awake."

"Triggered?"

He heard his son say, "The door. That put him into standby."

"15 seconds." The raven-haired stated matter of factly. "That's the reboot time."

Kyle sighed heavily before he said, "Alright. John, you have to open the door and run as soon as it opens. Okay?"

John swallowed hard. "But the keys are... Carter has them around his... Okay."

"You can do it, John." His father encouraged him. "I'm right here. It'll be fine."

Sarah and Kyle waited for less than three minutes. For Kyle it felt like an eternity though. Yet everything happedn very quickly once the door started to open. John stormed out and a few seconds later, Carter followed him. While Kyle and John tried to get the truck into gear, Sarah confronted him and fought with him. They kicked and punched each other, both suffering damage. But after the truck was moving, Carter broke free from the fight and stopped it.

John crouched. Kyle coursed, put out his gun and shot him. Finally they managed to drive out and Sarah locked Carter inside.

"He can't get out, can he?" Kyle asked, just releasing his son from a bear hug.

Sarah shook her head wordlessly. Afterwards they climbed into their own vehicle and returned home where Cameron didn't let her brother out of her arms for at least five minutes, telling him what an idiot he was.

Later when everything was settled more or less again and her father and her brother were in their rooms to digest supper in piece, Cameron looked for Sarah who she found in the living room. The terminator was sitting on the couch. The Reese girl saw that the TV was turned on. She walked down the last steps and stopped next to the couch's left arm rest. "What are you watching?"

"The Descent." Sarah replied. "It's a 2005 British horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film follows a group of women who embark on a caving expedition and become trapped underground. When a group of creatures begin attacking the women, they struggle to survive and escape the cave."

Cameron raised a sceptically eyebrow whereupon Sarah grinned and explained, "I discovered Wikipedia the other day. I don't sleep."

"I see..." The young girl took a deep breath and started, "Um, I just wanted to thank you for saving my brother today. Obviously he forgot to do so... and my father as well."

The terminator smiled warmly at her. "It's my mission to protect you and your brother. Yet you're welcome."

Seemingly shy Cameron smiled back, rubbing her neck. "Well, I think I'll go back into my room, maybe listening to some music. They're playing a song called 'Bleeding Love' on the radio up an down at the moment. It's pretty good. Nice lyrics you know. Very touching."

"You're rambling." Sarah stated smirking, causing Cameron to sigh and being embarrassed.

"Yep, I am."

"Why?"

Cameron opened her mouth to say something. But she closed it again when she stared into Sarah's shiny jade-green eyes which were fixated on her. She didn't know why she felt so akward right now. After all she had always enjoyed having Sarah for herself, talking to her. Then she remembered Sarah's bloody hands this afternoon and how she had refused to look at the raven-haired. Finally she answered, "It had been a rough day."

"Indeed." Sarah agreed. She saw Cameron turning to leave and before her system had accurately planned it, she already asked, "Instead of listening to music you could watch the film with me if you want to. It just started."

Cameron seemed to consider the invention and then nodded. "Sure."

"But be warned." The terminator told her. "As I said it's a horror film. It's supposed to be very good, but also very scary."

The teenage girl dropped herself onto the couch next to Sarah's left side. "Since my birth Skynet wants my death and sends assassins to kill me, and a terminator whose mission is to ptotect me from everything is sitting next to me. So if I get scared because of a film then I'm a real wuss."

Still smiling Sarah shrugged. "Well, once a little child succeeded in frightening your future self..." After that statement the raven-haired chuckled softly, appearently haunted by an old memory. Meanwhile Cameron nudged her playfully and said, "Stop laughing at me... my future self."

"I'm sorry." The terminator stopped laughing. Yet she couldn't help but giggle a few last times. "Let's watch the film."

So they did in comfortable silence, watching the five women making their way through the cave system in search of an exit after a passage had collapsed behind them. The main character was the woman named Sarah who had lost her family a year ago. She was the one who spotted a 'crawler', a pale, humanoid creature, at first. But the others wouldn't believe her and simply think that she imagined it. Soon after they're attacked by a crawler. And that was when Cameron started to feel slightly nervous. But at the upcoming end of the film, she let out a soft scream every thirty seconds averagely and finally hid her face at Sarah's neck.

The terminator looked down at her thigh after she felt a constant squeeze there. She saw Cameron's small hand, and the girl's fingernails were digging into the fabric of her jeans. Sarah felt guilty for making Cameron watching the film and placed her right hand on her cheek. She wanted to switch the TV off, but then the film already showed the closing credits. "It's over now."

Cameron wouldn't withdraw from her neck though. Even her hand still rested on Sarah's thigh. Just the squeeze had stopped. The girl had been so scared that she had not even noticed how close she was to Sarah at the moment. But now she did. She felt the soft flesh, the warm skin, felt the terminator's hair tickling her face, and she could smell the perfume heavier than ever before.

"Cameron?" Sarah asked softly, yet worried. "Cam?"

Finally the girl slowly pulled back a bit, brushing her nose against Sarah's cheek. When they looked at each other, Sarah noted Cameron's clouded, dark eyes. She knew that look from future Cameron. "You..."

"I should go to bed." Cameron interrupted her. "It's late. That's what you wanted to say, right?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes."

"Alright." Cameron whispered and stood up. "Good night, Sarah."

"Good night, Cameron."

The raven-haired watched her leaving, walking up the stairs. And when she had disappeared, Sarah let out a _shaky_ breath. Every day it was getting harder to remain strong. She had not expected that this young version of Cameron Reese was almost as captivating and intriguing as the older one.

Yes, she had failed in 2027. But she wouldn't fail a second time, here in 2007. Sarah swore to herself that she would save Cameron this time.

_"Mom travelled back in time to protect dad. But they fell in love and mom broke the most important rule; she stayed. When she got pregnant, she was profoundly convinced that she had changed the future fatally. She didn't know that she was meant to be the mother of all destiny until she gave birth to me and my brother nine months later. __She looked at us and then understood her role in history. With her decision to stay, to breake the rules, she enabled mankind to fight. __Shortly afterwards, mom got killed."_


	5. Episode 5

**_Episode 5; One for a dozen others_**

_"In all of the training I and my brother received in the jungles of Central America, nothing better prepared us for combat than the game of chess. It taught us almost everything we needed to know about war. That to win you must be patient, bold, calculating. And most of all, willing to sacrifice."_

Agent Ellison was at a crime scene once more. A plastic surgeon, Dr. David Lyman, had been murdered by snapping his neck.

"Just like this Dr. Fleming a few days ago," Ellison murmured to himself.

In all those years as FBI agent, Ellison had seen many disgusting murders, but this case definitely had made it into the top ten. The apartment had been rifed with blood and the bath tub had been filled with it. Fleming had been lying on the ground, and his eyes had been stolen.

Ellison had seen such things before. But this time it was different. He knew, it had to do with Kyle Reese what meant that nothing here was normal. Not even the blood. By now he had noted that he was following the trail of some 'un-natural blood', how he used to call it. It intrigued him as much as it scared him.

And when he watched the security tape with Smith, he was absolutely sure that something weird and dangerous was going on. The tape showed a man enter at Friday night and leave Sunday morning. On his way out, the man's face could be identified as that of George Laszlo, a former patient.

Kyle Reese knew nothing about all this when he was out, strolling through the mall. He canvassed several stores where he bought some electronic stuff for John, a book for Cameron, and new boots for himself.

Sighing heavily, he sank into one of the chairs at a table in front of a café. His kids were at school and for the first time since he had met Kate, Kyle was _bored_. Now that he had procured faked , weapons and had prepared their house, there was nothing left to do for him alone. When he, or rather John, wanted to keep a new track, he wasn't allowed to go on his own because his children had forbidden him to do so. So now he had to take the Tin Lady with him on a mission.

He clenched his fist at the thought of the damn terminator. Kyle felt contempt for Connor. But he really, really _hated_ to see how John and Cameron made friends with her, especially Cameron. They talked with her in a friendly and polite manner as if she had feelings which could be hurt by hard, bitter words. Hell, they almost treated her like a real family member, not just like the simple tool that she was.

Kyle couldn't understand this. For him, Connor was a reminder of his failure as husband and father. At night when he lay in his bed, shortly before the nightmares would start, he always wondered why John and Cameron had to...would have to send this machine back. Was he, their father, not good enough as protector? Or would he already be gone in 2027? Would he be dead? Was that the cause for Connor's sudden appearance?

Such considerations kept him awake until he finally fell asleep out of exhaustion. Then the nightmares haunted him.

"Is this seat taken?" Kyle heard a voice asking.

Blinking, he looked up into the face of a woman who was smiling at him. She had black, bobbed hair what fitted perfectly to her features. Her eyes were baby blue. Kyle estimated her to be in her early thirties.

He shook his head. "No, it's not."

"May I join you?" she asked, already adjusting the chair.

Kyle had no other choice than to agree and soon they were sitting opposite one another. The woman held out his hand to him and introduced herself, "I'm Andrea Goode. Nice to meet you."

He took her hand and shook it. "Kyle Baum." He cleared his throat before he added, "Nice to meet you too."

Kyle was a polite man and so he couldn't help but talk with her. They chatted for a while, about unimportant things, until Andrea told him that he had to go because her sister was waiting for her. However, they arranged a date at her house for this evening. Even if Kyle didn't see it as one.

Meanwhile, Cameron was desperately trying to cheer up a crying student in the girl's restroom. Cameron didn't even knew her name. But what else could she have done than to help somebody who was shouting, "You saw it right? Right? You saw it?!"

Cameron was pretty sure that she meant the series of three doors resembling trompe l'oeil graffiti that were painted on the walls at their High School. She had looked at them closely and had noticed that each door had more letters printed on it, presumably spelling out a name or a title. The first door had the letter A on it, the second one the letters DAN and a bra, and the third door the letters IDAN and a blonde and a male figure kissing.

Somehow, Cameron had been inquisitive about the graffiti, eager to find out what it signified. But John had told her not to interfere because it would only cause them trouble then. So she had backed off. Yet, she conceived suspicion that she was in trouble though.

Feeling helpless, Cameron tried to calm her, "The graffiti? Yes, I saw it. Wha..."

"It's so freaking big and right out there!" the blonde girl yelled sobbing.

The student faced her and looked at her as if she expected Cameron to have the answer to her problem. Unfortunately Cameron had no idea what to do or what to say. However, her decency demanded her to try to help the girl at least. By this time, Cameron was certain that she took part in the graffiti depicted scenes judging from her reaction.

Cameron reassured her, "I don't know what's up with this graffiti." She took a breath, then added, "But I'm sure it's nothing that can't be fixed. You should talk to someone. Your parents at best...or if you don't want to, you could go to your guidance counselor."

"No!" the blonde shouted, "Not him!"

Before Cameron had the chance to say something, the girl was already storming out of the restroom. And Cameron was afraid that she had not just failed in cheering the blonde up but that she had made the whole thing even worse.

Agent Ellison was discussing Laszlo with a fellow agent who only advised him not to spend any more time on the case. "You're paranoid," the agent said to him, "Not everything has to do with Kyle Reese."

"I know that," Ellison replied fiercely, "but this here has to do with him!" He took a deep breath and added, "I showed you the results of the blood sample. It's no normal blood... It's some kind of un-natural blood. Don't you find that suspicious?"

Ellison hated it that nobody of the other agents trusted him despite all the signs and evidences. It was even worse, some of them made fun of him.

The female agent noticed the sarcasm. Though she ignored it and before she could answer him, agent Stewart came into the office and notified, "Laszlo has arrived for questioning and asks about the case, Jim."

"Thanks. Tell him I'm on my way." Ellison replied. Stewart was about to leave when Ellison warned, "And don't call me _Jim_."

"You ordered Laszlo to come here?" his colleague asked frowning. She didn't wait for the answer but went on, "What are you going to tell him? That you're following a trail of...un-natural blood and that he's a suspect, next to a guy named Kyle Reese who blew himself and his family up about eight years ago and who arrived on the scene all of a sudden some weeks ago?"

Ellison tried to remain calm and simply stated, "I don't know yet." He hunched his shoulder. "And now excuse me please. George Laszlo is waiting for me."

He left the office and made a beeline for the room in which Laszlo was. When he opened the door and stepped in, Laszlo looked everything but happy. Yet, Ellison tried to be friendly and introduced himself, "Good day, Mr. Laszlo. I'm agent Ellison."

"Good day, Agent," Laszlo replied rather politely. Though he refused to smile. "So what am I doing here?"

"You don't beat about the bush," Ellison joked.

However, he got serious once his suspect sighed in annoyance and demanded again, "What am I doing here? What do you want from me?"

"Well, you're an actor, aren't you?" the agent started with his questions.

Laszlo nodded. "Yes, I am. But..."

"And you were a patient from Dr. David Lyman?"

Laszlo didn't like the way Ellison was staring at him. Yet, he gave up and simply answered the agent's questions. "Yes, I was. As actor you have to look good after all."

"I see." Ellison knew that his career didn't go well and that Laszlo was a pretty bad actor. But he couldn't care less about it. "Do you know that Dr. Lyman was murdered?"

Again, Laszlo nodded. "Yes, I read it in the newspaper. I just don't understand what that has to do with me..." Suddenly he blinked a few times and then glared at Ellison. "Do you think that it was me? I didn't do it!"

"No, I don't think so," Ellison said calmly. "Though I'd want you to make a blood sample so that I can compare it with the sample from the crime scene."

"Fine," Laszlo agreed. After all, he had no other choice.

Sarah was just parking the pick-up in front of the school building when the bell rang. She stepped out of the vehicle and took her sun glasses off before she scanned the whole area for any threats. It was unlikely that a terminator would turn up, but not impossible. That was why Sarah picked Cameron and John up from school everyday.

At first she had offered Kyle Reese to come with her because she knew that he felt kind of useless now that she had arrived and moreover, his offspring got rebellious. Kyle, however, had said that she should go alone. After three days, she had not asked him any longer.

Plenty of students ran out of the building. Yet, Sarah easily detected Cameron and John once they came out. Blending in, Sarah put on a smile and waved at them. She knew that John found her behaviour embarrassing. But this amused the raven-haired and only encouraged her to go on with it.

Rolling his eyes, John approached her with Cameron in tow. "Hey," he greeted briefly. "I told you to stop that."

"And I told you I do not take orders from you." Sarah's face held a mischievous grin while the words left her mouth.

John snorted. "That's an odd thing," he stated, "because you take Cameron's orders all the time."

Immediately Cameron got upset and rectified his allegation by saying, "I don't _order_ her, I _request _her to do something." She folded her arms. "Maybe you should have a shot at it. I've never heard you say the little word 'please' you know."

Sighing in defeat, John was about to say something when they heard a loud scream all of a sudden, followed by shouts and gasps. Instinctively, Sarah grabbed Cameron and John and shoved them behind her back. But she soon realized that there was no danger. At least not for her charges. Instead, for a young student who was standing on the roof of the school building, declaring that life was over.

"That's _her_!" Cameron burst out, stepping in front of Sarah.

The terminator looked at her questioningly and asked in a monotone voice, "Who's _her_?"

Cameron didn't answer her question. Instead, she started running back to the building with the words 'I have to help her!'. John looked at Sarah bewildered at first. Then he ran after his sister finally.

Thanks to her surpassing hearing, Sarah could already perceive the sound of the nearing police, media, and the ambulances. The raven-haired growled softly before she sprinted after the Reese siblings. She catched up with them at the entrance, grabbing them by their arms.

While John didn't struggle, Cameron did all the more. The girl faced her protector and demanded, "Let me go!" When Sarah refused to do so, she begged, "Please! She's despaired! She'll jump I know it! Really! Somebody has to help her!"

"Yes," Sarah agreed with her, "but that somebody won't be you. Now come. We have to hurry."

Cameron still tried to get free, even if she knew that it was completely useless. A few seconds later, they had to watch the girl falling before she landed on the grass with a thud. John swallowed hard, Sarah sighed silently and Cameron simply stared at the student's body, shocked. She spotted a trickle of blood on the side of her head. Cameron felt as if she had to throw up any minute.

But Sarah pulled them away from the crowd, directly to the pick-up. "Get in." She added rather rude, "Quickly."

Now Cameron didn't fight back any more. She climbed in the vehicle, in the back seat. John who sat on the passenger seat turned his head to look at her and asked insecurely, "Hey! You okay, Sis?"

Cameron refused to talk the whole way home.

"It's absolutely impossible to undergo an operation without an anesthesia, Jim," Agent Stewart stated matter of factly, "Nobody could take the pain. I even asked a Doctor, although it's pretty logical."

Ellison groaned in annoyance. "Alright." He took a deep breath. "But listen, what if..."

"No!" the supervisor interrupted him. "No more what ifs. We're sitting here since almost two hours, agent Ellison, and agent Stewart has provided solid evidence that all of your theories could be be thrown out."

"But Laszlo entered the clinic at Friday night," Ellison asserted forcefully, "and left it at Sunday morning."

Stewart sighed. "Jim, it's not proved that the man from Friday is George Laszlo. The tape doesn't show his face at this point."

"He has the same clothes!"

"That's no clear proof, Agent!" By now the superviser was fed up with Ellison and his absurd theories. "Your leads aren't credible. And that's it."

In the meantime, Sarah, Cameron and John had arrived at home. They got out of the pick-up and instantly Cameron stormed into the house, followed by a contrite John. Sarah knew that Cameron was angry at her, but only when she came into the kitchen she found out how much. The girl shouted at her, "Why have you done that?! Why did you hold me back?! I could have helped her!"

"You could not have," Sarah replied calmly. "She had problems. Nobody could have helped her besides her family and a psychiatrist. You would have only endangered yourself and our cover as family Baum."

"What the Hell makes you think that?" Cameron demanded harshly, trying to push Sarah away from her.

The terminator disliked the girl's action. Yet, she answered smoothly, "If you got involved, you'd end up in the press and the police would take your name, get a statement, and maybe do a background check."

John had to admit that it was a good reason. Cameron too, though she was too angry and sad to calm down now. Instead, she pushed Sarah backwards, or at least tried to, while she shouted, "She's dead! _Dead_! Do you even know what that means?! Her family will never see her again, never talk to her again!"

"No," Sarah confirmed, "they won't." Then she saw the first tears rolling down Cameron's flushed cheeks. "You're crying. Why?" She tilted her head. "The girl was no friend of yours, was she?"

Sarah stretched out her hand to brush away a tear, but Cameron withdrew from the touch and hissed, "Don't you dare, Metal!"

For the first time since they had come home, an emotion was displayed on the raven-haired's face; anger. Cameron had never called her such a name, such a _thing _until now. And Sarah found that she hated the girl's soft voice saying it. What had she done to deserve to be insulted? "You should be grateful, Reese. I saved you and your brother from a big amount of trouble. I really don't know why..."

"You don't know anything!" Cameron interrupted her. "You cannot even understand what just happened because you're nothing but a damn _robot_!"

Sarah couldn't respond since the teen stormed out of the kitchen, up to her room and slammed the door shut.

John jerked at the loud bang while Sarah clenched her her fist.

George Laszlo heard a knock at the front door of his apartment when he was watching TV. He stood up and opened the door, just to look directly into the face of agent Ellison. "Good evening, Agent," he greeted monotone.

Ellison guessed that he was still crossed with him. However, the agent greeted him back friendly, "Good evening, Mr. Laszlo." He waited a few seconds and when Laszlo didn't say a thing he asked, "May I come in?"

Laszlo shrugged and stepped aside, signaling Ellison to come in. He did so and glanced around briefly. On the table he spotted an old piece of pizza and a coke. "Were you having dinner? If so I'm really sorry for disturbing you."

"Don't worry," Laszlo replied, "I can easily warm it over in the microwave." Afterwards, he asked, "How can I help you, agent Ellison?"

"Well," Ellison took a deep breath, "at first I'm here to tell you that your blood sample didn't match with the one from the crime scene."

Laszlo remained unaffected. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," the agent answered. "But there's something else." After a few seconds of thinking how to formulate his warning, he advised Laszlo, "That must sound strange for you. Though I think you should know that someone may be stealing your identity."

"I understand." Laszlo nodded briefly. "I'll be careful."

Ellison sighed and went to the door. There he took out a card and said, "Here's my contact information. Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you for your time," Laszlo answered, taking the card. He watched Ellison turning around and leaving. Then he closed the door, already planning how to get rid of the real George Laszlo's corpse. The fake George Laszlo alias Cromartie made his way into the bathroom, his eyes flashing red for a split second.

"Normally, you're totally against her," Cameron nagged in pure disbelieve, "but now you're on her side all of a sudden?!"

Kyle was sitting at the kitchen table next to John, watching his daughter running from one corner to the other and back again while she was waving her hands around. He groaned softly and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

When he had come home, John had told him about the student who had commited suicide today by jumping down from the roof of the school building. Moreover, he had told him that Sarah had stopped them from helping the young girl and that Cameron was pretty upset about it. Then Sarah had explained to him _why_ she had operated this way. Afterwards, Kyle had called for Cameron. Latter had come down in the hope that her father would agree with her. However, he had stated that Sarah had been right to do so.

"Cam," he said rationally, "I understand that you're under a strain, but..."

"Under a strain?!" Cameron interrupted him. "I just watched a same-aged girl like me killing herself! Although I could have helped her!"

At this point Sarah decided to interfere and declared, "I already told you that you coudn't have helped her." She waited until Cameron faced her, glaring. Then she went on, "The girl had abandoned all hope. I saw it in her eyes. I've seen that look before."

"Really?" the Reese girl snorted scornfully, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So you've known somebody who has commited suicide or what?"

"Yes," Sarah answered matter-of-factly. However, there was a flash of emotion across her hardened features before her face was completely blank again. Neither Kyle nor John saw the flash. Cameron thought she saw it. Yet, it was gone so fast that she dismissed it as a figment. "A close friend of mine," the raven-haired added after a few seconds.

No one of the Reeses said something, not even Kyle whose opinion was that machines didn't have friends. Therefor, John pretended to be rather fascinated by the table top's wavy grain while Cameron's anger slowly faded away and all that remained was a queasy feeling, sadness, and shame. Sighing heavily, she collapsed into a chair.

Uncertain, Kyle looked around until his eyes finally fell onto the kitchen clock. He cursed, "Shit!"

"What," John asked. "What is it now?"

Kyle clicked his tongue. "I have a dinner engagement with a woman I met in the mall today." He sighed and got his cellphone from his pocket. "I'll just call her and tell her that something cropped up."

"Dad," the Reese boy gave his father a scolding, "you can't do that. It would be mean."

His father looked at him warily and said, "What else should I do, John?" He glanced at Cameron who was staring out of the window, then at Connor who stood motionless by the kitchen counter. "It's obviously that you guys need me here."

"We can manage, thank you," John tried to joke. He wasn't really convinced, neither was Kyle, but he found that his father needed some time off. Besides, John didn't think that he would help easing the tension which was mostly between his sister and Sarah anyway. "Seriously, Dad we'll be fine."

Cameron turned her head to face her father and softly agreed with her brother, "He's right. You should go on your date."

"It's not a date," Kyle immediately controverted, revealing a small grin. "I'm going to eat dinner with her. That's it."

John smirked and added, "For now."

The Reeses couldn't help laughing, even if Cameron's laugh was constrained.

"What's her name?" John asked, still smiling. "How is she? How did you meet her?"

"Her name is Andrea," Kyle replied. "But if you really want me to go to my non-date then I'll have to answer your questions another time because I'll be late otherwise." He pointed at the clock. "I have to be at her house in about half an hour."

Grinning, Kyle stood up and went upstairs. At first, he took a quick shower before he put on fresh jeans and a black shirt. Afterwards, he made his way back into the kitchen where he saw that the machine had left while he had been gone. Only his kids were still sitting at the table and talking with each other. For the split of a second he considered to stay. Yet, he finally stated, "Well, I'll go now. If something should happen just call me and I'm here in a minute."

"Dad," John groaned playfully, "we still have a cyborg in the house whose mission is to protect us. So go and have fun!"

"Okay." Kyle walked over to Cameron and John and kissed each of them on the forehead.

Then he grabbed his jacket, put it on and left the house, heading for the pick-up. He got in, started the engine and hit the road. Andrea's house wasn't far away so the drive lasted a little less than ten minutes and meanwhile he listened to the radio. Kyle noticed how different today's music was compared to the music in the past. He had to laugh at himself because of his old-man thoughts.

He parked in front of the house which was surprisingly big. When he rang the bell and Andrea opened the door, Kyle had to suppress a gasp. Moreover, he had to admit that Andrea looked stunning. She wore black, tight jeans and a cream-colored blouse. Her make-up was decent, yet it showed her features off to its best advantage. Well, maybe it was a date after all. "You...beautiful."

Andrea gave a high, clear laugh. "Thank you. You too kind."

"Oh no," Kyle grumbled softly, shaking his head, "I'm sorry. One minute... It took me one minute to make a fool of myself. Great." However, he decided to grab the chance and to be a real gentleman by flattering, "Well, actually that's your fault. Such beauty distracts me."

Smiling shyly, Andrea told him to come in. He did so and then she said, "Please sit down. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"Alright." Kyle sat down at the table, looking around. "You have a nice taste."

"Thanks." Andrea handed him a wine bottle and a corkscrew. "Can you open it, please?"

Kyle took both. "Of course." And while Andrea was in the kitchen, he managed to open it and poured some of the red liquid into their glasses.

A few minutes later, Andrea placed two plates on the table. One for each of them. Kyle stood up and adjusted her chair. He waited for her to sit down before he took a seat too. Careful not to drool, Kyle looked at his meal that consisted of a filet of pork with boiled potatoes and braised vegetables. "It looks delicious, Andrea."

"Well, let's hope that it also tastes delicious," she joked.

"I'm pretty sure it does."

They smiled at each other and started eating as well as talking. Kyle was the first one to say something and asked, "So what's your main job?"

"I'm working in an electronics store," Andrea answered. "Very underwhelming for someone who was a summer intern at Cyberdyne."

Kyle almost choked on a bite of his filet. Finally he inquired, "Cyberdyne?"

"Yes," Andrea confirmed, slightly perplexed by Kyle's reaction. "At the times Miles Dyson was still alive." She sighed. "He liked me. I studied computer science at CalTech, but I never obtained my degree because I had to drop out in my senior year. My father died and I had to take care of my mom."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Kyle gave her a sympathetic smile and decided to changed the topic, more or less. "So you like technology?"

Andrea nodded enthusiastically, "I love it. What about you?"

"Me too," Kyle lied. In real he was a technophobe. However, Andrea didn't know it and he wouldn't tell her.

He could see how her eyes started shining before she promised, "When we're finished I'll show you something, okay? I call it The Turk."

Kyle had a bad feeling. But he kept on smiling, chatting, and eating. And when they finally had eaten their desserts, Andrea guided him to a cupboard which she opened. Kyle studied the computer. Yet, he had no clue what was so special about it.

"It plays chess," Andrea stated proudly. "Sometimes I believe that it has its own mind, you know. Because it always changes its strategies and sometimes it won't acknowledge that its defeated." Luckily, she didn't notice Kyle's flinch. "I plan to enter in a chess tournament in which the winner will gain a military contract."

After these words, the scales fell from Kyle Reese's eyes. He realized that this highly adaptable program was the precursor to Skynet and that he had to destroy this Turk, as soon as possible. But he didn't know how. Unfortunately, he couldn't talk to John and Cameron about it because at least one of them, he expected it to be his daughter, would tell Tin Lady Connor about it. And he knew that Connor would kill Andrea.

Kyle wouldn't let that happen. There had to be an alternative.

At home, Sarah softly knocked at Cameron's door and after an unfriendly 'What is it?' she opened it and came into the girl's room. And said girl, who was sitting at her desk, looked rather pissed about this and commented harshly, "When exactly did I say _come in_?"

"I guess you're still angry at me?" Sarah concluded by her behaviour. "Am I right?"

"No," Cameron sneered, "we're best friends."

By now, the female terminator understood sarcasm. She sighed silently, wondering when the Reese girl would stop being mad at her. Cameron saw the sad expression on Sarah's face and felt guilty almost instantly. But this time she wouldn't crumble. Instead, she would show her protector that she was no stupid little girl that needed somebody who made all the decisions for her.

She watched Sarah turning around with the aim to leave. She watched Sarah reaching for the door knob. She watched Sarah opening the door. "Sarah, wait." Dammit!

The raven-haired closed the door again and looked at Cameron. The teenager asked herself if she was hallucinating or if there was indeed _hope_ readable on Sarah's face. "Yes?" Sarah inquired, tilting her head.

"Why?" Cameron asked in return, exposing a defeated expression. In the last two hours, she had pondered about today's events and there was one question, one thought, a concern that was obsessing her. "Why, Sarah?"

"I'm sorry," the terminator said, frowning, "I don't understand your question. Why what?"

Cameron sighed deeply, holding Sarah's gaze. "Why I'm not allowed to help people? Or at least try to."

That was a full question. However, Sarah still had problems to get it. She said, "But you _are_ allowed to help people." Recalling some of her memories, she added, "You help them all the time. No matter if it's your family or a complete stranger like the man who asked you for a tissue yesterday."

The Reese girl held a bleak smile. "That's not what I mean."

"I thought so," Sarah admitted gloomily. "What do you mean then?"

Cameron took a deep breath and explained, "Every time I wanted to help...to _save_ somebody dad stopped me on the grounds that it was too dangerous. For example, two years before your arrival, another terminator was chasing us." She paused a few seconds before continued, "He mauled a young man who was screaming for help. I told dad that we had to go back and help him. But dad..." Again, she sighed and paused. "While we escaped the young man died."

"So are you angry at your dad?" Sarah asked, uncertain. "He wanted to protect you."

"And that's exactly the point!" the girl shouted. "Everybody wants to protect me! But how the Hell shall I become what I'm supposed to be then?!"

Sarah frowned, tilting her head. "What you're supposed to be?"

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to be, a _hero_?" Cameron demanded defeated, "Isn't that who I am? I'm supposed to _help _and _save_ people. However, I never did and I don't do it now because it's...too dangerous. Do you all think that the apocalypse will be less dangerous than a _possible_ background check?!"

"I think I see now what your problem is," the terminator said softly, giving Cameron a sad smile. She sighed and came a little nearer. "You always want to help everybody, and that won't change in the future. Yet, there's something you have to understand, Cam. Namely that you just _can't_ save everbody. There'll be situations where it'll be too late. And there'll be situations where you have to sacrifice one person to save a dozen others. It would have been momentous if the police would have found out who you are. We would have been busy with hiding instead with averting Judgement Day." She made a pause and looked intensively at Cameron before she finally said, "A hero makes sacrifices and accepts a defeat from time to time. He grieves, but _goes on _afterwards. That is a _real _hero."

Cameron swallowed clearly audible, ignoring the sting in her eyes. Sarah was right, she knew. However, it was hard to approve. She took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry for insulting you today, when I called you..."

"It's okay," Sarah assured her. "Don't worry."

The teenager smiled faintly at the raven-haired and said, "I'm also sorry for your loss." She cleared her throat. "The friend of yours who commited suicide."

"Thank you." It seemed as if the terminator was haunted by some old memories.

Cameron licked her dry lips and hoped she wouldn't go too far with her next question. "You said you were close to..._her_?" She didn't know whether that friend had been male or female so she guessed.

Sarah confirmed her guess. "She was my best friend." Then she softly added, "I loved her."

Somehow, Cameron had to suppress the urge to ask if the raven-haired had simply loved her platonically or if there had been _more_. "What was her name?" Then Cameron realized that she still didn't even know the name from the girl which she had wanted to help.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Sarah replied. "She's dead...because I couldn't help her. It was too late."

Kyle, in the meantime, tried to comfort a crying Andrea Goode while they watched her house burning. They had gone for an amble that Kyle had suggested, but when they had come back the house was already ablazing.

What Andrea didn't know was the fact that Kyle had only made the suggestion to get her out of the house so that he could leave a burning candle near a napkin on the table. He was sorry for setting Andrea's house on fire. However, it was better than to kill her.

In the distant, he could hear the fire brigade.

_"If there is a flaw in chess as a game of war, it is this: Unlike war, the rules of chess are constant, the pieces unchangeable. You will never win the heart of a rook or the mind of a knight. They are deaf to your arguments. And so be it. The goal of a chess game is total annihilation. But in war, even as the blood beats in your ears and you race after your enemy, there is the hope that saner minds than yours will stop you before you reach your target. In war, unlike chess, rules can be changed. Truces can be called. The greatest of enemies can become the best of friends. In war, there is hope."_


	6. Episode 6

Hi, so here's the next chapter finally. It's the longest I've ever written and I really hope that you'll appreciate it with some reviews, please!! :) Well, thanks to tanama30 for the only review for the last chapter.

And if you read this story but are simply a lurker, then at least do me the favor and enjoy my fic. ;)

Note: The first season of T:TCRC will be over in 4 chapters. If you wanna read season 2, then please tell me and I'll write it. And just for you to know, I've already worked up the concept for season 3. ;)

**_Episode 6; If you have to get over your own life_**

_"When our father was in the mental hospital I became obsessed with science. Not all science actually, and not really science at all. Scientists. And then only nuclear scientists. The ones who invented the bomb. Oppenheimer, Heisenberg, Fermi, and Teller. Pioneers. Geniuses, all. I read every book I could. I wanted to understand. Why couldn't they stop? These fathers of our destruction. And why wouldn't anyone stop them? And if I had the chance, would I?"_

It was the morning of what was going to be a hot summer day, and Kyle was outside, doing his daily exercise routine which was an absolute necessity for him. After all, they never knew when another foe would show up, trying to kill them. If so, they either had to fight or, as he preferred it, to run away. Therefore, he had to have a well-conditioned body.

He was doing chin-ups on the old swing set that stood in the front yard, just a few meters away from the house. Very shortly after their moving in, Kyle had found that it made a good piece of sports equipment.

Transpiring and breathing heavily, Kyle let go of the bar and landed on the ground, causing a small cloud of dust. He roughed up his unruly, slightly sweaty hair, before he went back into the house. When he entered the kitchen, he saw John and Cameron sitting at the table, eating breakfast. Luckily, the machine was nowhere to see.

"Good morning," Kyle said, smiling at his children.

John couldn't help but grin after eating a heap of the delecious pancakes made by his sister. "Mornin', Dad."

"Morning," Cameron greeted, while she managed to put on a smile to reassure her worried father.

It had been one week and five days since the student Jordan Cowan had comitted suicide. And today, Cameron had to go to Mr. Harris, the guidance counselor, after she had revealled that she had talked to Jordan, shortly before latter had killed herself. However, the Reese girl didn't look forward to the meeting with him, not least because she suspected Harris to be accessory to Jordan's death.

"Are you alright, little Albatross?" Kyle asked his daughter, looking at her with sorrowful eyes.

Briefly, Cameron nodded her head, forcing herself to smile at her old nickname. But the smile disappeared rather quickly again. She still couldn't forget Jordan's lifeless body lying on the grass, a trickle of blood running down her temple. Initially, she even had had nightmares about it in which she tried to save her, yet failed miserable all the time. By now, they had stopped, but it was hard for her to talk about Jordan's suicide, especially with someone like the guidance counselor.

Cameron answered, "I'm okay, Dad." Sighing, she took her glass and swallowed the last sip of her orange juice. "I'll just get it over with."

"You need a ride to school?", Kyle offered his children. "Is not an issue."

"Dad, why don't you just give me the car keys?" John suggested before Cameron had even opened her mouth, "I could drive us to school and back home then."

His father snorted. "You wish, Son! No way, I let you drive the pickup." He shook his head. "Now, what about the ride?"

"Thanks, Dad," Cameron finally said, after a sulky John remained silent, "but no, thanks, there's no need for it." And then, a small, yet honest smile appeared on her face. "Sarah's going to take us to school, you know."

These words and his daughter's expression at the terminator's name cut deep into Kyle's locked-up heart. However, he did not show it. He never did. "Yeah, I forgot." Clearing his throat, he turned away and reached for his empty cup and the coffee pot. "Where's the Tin-Lady anyway?"

"_Sarah_," Cameron stressed her protector's name, "is..."

"Right here," Sarah cut in, standing in the entranceway to the kitchen. "Good morning, Kyle."

Kyle supressed the urge to flinch at the terminator's sudden appear. He really hated it when somebody sneaked up on him, especially a machine. While he poured the coffee in his cup, he didn't reply and just nodded in her direction to at least acknowledge her presence.

John and Cameron didn't greet her because they already had as their father had been outside.

"Are you ready?" Sarah aksed them, not paying any more attention to Kyle.

"Yep," John sighed everything but enthusiastically. Only Sarah could hear Cameron speaking under her breath, "No." Her brother got up, grabbing his backpack which was leaning against the chair. "C'mon, Sis."

Cameron stood up, reaching for her own backpack, and walked over to her father to place a kiss on his scrubby cheek. "Bye, Dad."

"Bye, my little Albatross," Kyle said softly, before he looked at John, waiting for his son's goodbye kiss. John rolled his eyes at first, but he finally went to his father, kissing him quickly on the cheek, grumbling, "Bye, Dad." He cleared his throat and added, "You really need to shave, by the way."

"We'll see," his father commented grinning, watching John and Cameron until they were out the door. Then he turned to Sarah who just took the car keys from the keyboard, glaring at her. "Drive safe, you hear?"

Sarah looked at him, unaffected. "You say that every morning." A few awkward seconds passed before Sarah tilted her head and gave him a thin smile. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to your children while I'm with them. I promise."

Kyle snorted, smiling bleakly and viciously at the terminator. "Your word doesn't mean anything to me, Tin-Lady." He stepped a little closer to her. "Just keep my kids save and apart from that, stay away from them. You're nothing than their...alleged protector, not their friend or anything."

"You're jealous," Sarah stated matter-of-factly. "You think that I am a rival for you in the love of your children."

Kyle took a deep breath, trying to remain calm while he was boiling with rage actually. Clenching his teeth, he snarled, "I'm certainly not jealous and you're certainly no rival for me. John and Cameron may not treat you like the tool you are, but you're damned wrong if you think that you mean something to them. You can't trick them with your infiltration methods. They won't fall for them. They know you don't care for them, that you just pretend to."

"My infiltration methods?" Sarah repeated questioningly. "I do not exert them when I'm with you, the Reeses." She frowned and gave him a look as if that was absolute obvious, making Kyle hating her even more. "It would be illogical for you know that I'm a terminator."

For the split of a second, Kyle seriously considered to throw his coffee cup at the machine. However, he diceded against it. After all, it was his favorite cup and it wouldn't do the Tin-Lady any harm. "Listen, you scrap heap, you're trying to befriend Cameron and John, using your infiltration techniques. I've seen it. And I want you to stop that. Do you get it?"

"I...," Sarah started talking, but was interrupted by Cameron who had come back to find out where Sarah got to. "Hey Sarah, what's..."

Cameron sensed a tense situation and wished she had sent John back into the house. She licked her lips and carefully asked, "Is everything alright?" Looking from her father to Sarah and back again, she added, "John and I wondered... I mean, it's late. School..."

"Yeah," Kyle agreed, smiling, "sorry. Sarah and I just had to talk about something. Don't worry, Cam."

His daughter raised a suspicious eyebrow once she realized that he had called Sarah by her name and had _not_ reffered to her as 'Tin-Lady'. Now, Cameron knew for sure that something was indeed at sixes and sevens. She would ask Sarah about it later. But at the moment she could only inquire, "Are we ready to go then?"

"Yes." Sarah confirmed. "Let's go."

Sarah and Cameron finally left the house, going to the pickup where John was waiting impatiently. He sighed both in annoyance and relief when he saw his sister and their protector approaching. "I call shotgun," Cameron said, causing John to grumble even more. But he cracked a smile when Sarah said, "I call 9 millimeter."

While they all climbed in, John demanded, "Where have you been?"

"Your father and I had to talk about something," Sarah answered, starting the engine.

John darted a quick, questioning look at Cameron who simply shrugged, appearing to be clueless as well.

Inside the house, Kyle cursed and swore, dooming the Tin-Lady. The walking toaster had really accused him of being jealous and had really stated that she was a rival in the love of his own kids. He had never heard such bullshit, and he had heard a lot of bullshit in his life. She had even negated using her infiltration methods and techniques to manipulate Cameron and John. For a machine she was a pretty poor liar.

But as much as he hated to do so, he had to admit that her manipulation worked, even if he had said that it didn't. With horror, he observed that his kids formed a friendship with the terminator. Most notably, Cameron. She talked less to him, now that the machine had entered their lives. She rather talked to her.

Maybe it was because Sarah was a female robot, he wondered. Now that Cameron was in the middle of puberty she probably needed somebody or at least some_thing_ with the same sex and not her _father_. In 1999, Cameron had had Allison to talk to. About 'women problems' and all the things Cameron had found too embarrassing to tell him. But here, she had no one. No one, despite the Tin-Lady.

That must have been the reason why Cameron was so fond of her. Kyle didn't like it, but with that reason he could leave with it. It was surely better than if Cameron would have actually _liked_ the machine.

And then one thoughtfully entered his mind. _Allison_.

He asked himself what had become of her. Did she miss him? Was she married by now? Did she have children? Was she even still alive?

Kyle didn't regret a lot of the things that had happend to him or of the things he had done in his life. However, one of these things was definitely that he had kept Allison on distance. She had been a beautiful woman, both physically and mentally. He remembered her long black hair and her deep blue eyes, her thin face and her cute snub nose, her nurse outfit. It seemed to him as if he could indeed smell her subtle perfume. He remembered her kindness and her warm smile, her patience and he remembered that she had always believed in the good in man. He missed her. He really did.

He wallowed in memories. But was disturbed by the ringing of his cell phone. Kyle reached for it, pushing all the thoughts of Allison away.

"Good morning, Mrs. Dixon," a tall man in a black suit greeted Allison who had just opened the front door for him. "I'm FBI Agent Kester. I know it is very early, but I have to ask you some questions. May I come in please?"

Allison immediately found that she didn't like Kester. He was somewhat too robotic. Yet, she stepped aside and said, "Of course." Well, what else could she have done? You cannot tell a FBI agent to take a hike, can you?

A few minutes later, Allison, Kester and Allison's husband Charley, a paramedic, were sitting in the living room and the agent started to ask, "Mrs. Dixon, you and Kyle Reese were engaged briefly in 1999, are these information accurate?"

The black-haired stiffened noticeable at her former partner's name. But she answered his question calmly, "Yes, we were. However, there was a day when he didn't call me." She let out a slightly shaky breath before she went on, "The next day I read an article in the newspaper, saying that he blew himself and his children up inside a bank vault eight years ago."

"Do you know that there's a video that shows Kyle Reese and his children John and Cameron Reese rather alive," Kester demanded. "It was made about three months ago and to see on the news the whole evening. Do you watch the News, Mrs. Dixon?"

"Of course, I do." Allison replied offended and angry. "And yes, I know about the video. I saw it...on the _News_."

She felt Charley's warm hand on her knee, obviously trying to soothe her. Suddenly, Allison wondered why Kester managed to devil her so easily although she was a pretty calm person in general. Probably, it was just the topic. Kyle Reese was a sore point for her after all.

Kester didn't seem to be affected at all. "Have you heard of him or have you seen him since then?"

"No," Allison answered simply. But it was enough for Kester alias Cromartie to detect the change in her voice, signaling him that she was lying.

He blinked a few times before he stated, "Mrs. Dixon, I think you're not telling me the truth." She wanted to say something, but Cromartie didn't give her the chance to do so. "I think you are harboring the Reeses."

After this, Allison was indeed upset. Agent or not, Kester had no right to accuse her of anything. She took a really deep breath and swore, "I am not. I haven't seen Kyle nor have I seen Cameron or John. And I certainly don't want to get involved with any of them ever again." She stood up from the couch. "I would really appreciate it if you would leave now, so that my husband and I can finish breakast."

"I'm sorry that I bothered you," Cromartie apologized, standing up and walking right to the door with Allison in tow. She opened the door for him, waiting for him to leave. He turned around one last time though, holding a business card out to her. "Please call me if you have any information."

Allison faked a smile, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "For sure, agent Kester."

Then Cromartie left the Dixon's property and Allison closed the door with a bang, murmering, "What an idiot!" She walked into the kitchen where Charley was already waiting for her. He didn't look happy, Allison could tell. "What is it, Charley?" she sighed.

"You were lying to him," he stated before he put on a pleading expression. "Please tell me the truth, Honey."

His wife sighed heavily, considering whether to tell him or not. In the end, she was honest to him, revealing, "I told you that Kyle had...has two kids, John and Cameron." She waited until Charley nodded briefly "Well, John came by to our home weeks ago. We didn't talk much... I was stunned and he was too, obviously. He left as quickly as he had shown up."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Charley massaged his temples.

Allison puffed. "Good God, Charley," she groaned, "for eight years I thought that Kyle, Cameron and John were dead, and all of a sudden there's is this video and to crown it all, John comes here! I do not have a plan of how to deal with Kyle coming back into my life again!"

"Hi Kyle," a familiar voice greeted him as he answered the call, "it's me, Andrea."

Kyle was surprised, almost a bit shocked, and stuttered, "A...Andrea. Hey, how...how are you?" Nervously, he rubbed his jaw. He hadn't heard anything from Andrea since he had set fire to her house.

"Well," Andrea spoke under her breath, "I'd say better now. However, there's one thing that really great at the moment. That's why I'm calling you."

Frowning, he asked, "And what would that be?"

"The Turk," she answered cheerfully, causing Kyle to gasp softly. "I recoded it in a coffee shop in Van Nuys." She made a short pause, then said," And guess what. I entered a chess tournament there. The winner gets a cash prize and military contract."

Dumbstruck, Kyle didn't know what to say at first. Finally, he managed to reply,"That's...great, Andrea!" It was a _huge _lie, even for him. "I was so sorry that it got destroyed because of the fire."

"I know," Andrea agreed, "me too. But there's yet another reason why I'm calling, Kyle."

Thank God, that Andrea couldn't see his distressed face. "I don't think that I can take anymore good news." However, he encouraged her,"Go on!"

"Would you like to meet me in Pasadena," Andrea suggested. "And then you could come to the tournament with me."

Kyle swallowed hard. "I'd love that."

Sarah parked near the school and John jumped out of the pickup as soon as the wheels stood still. They still had a few minutes left until the bell would ring. However, John hurried to get into the classroom where his pretty schoolmate Cheri Westin was. "Bye, Sarah. See you later, Cam."

Cameron and the raven-haired watched him running to the entrance gate and his sister couldn't help but chuckle. "He has a total crush on this girl, you know. Even though Morris told him to be careful."

"Careful?" Sarah inquired, already calculating how dangerous a student could be.

Raising an eyebrow, Cameron looked at her, realizing what was going on in the terminator's head. She quickly explained, "She's no threat. Morris just said that smething went down crazy at the last school she in, but no one knows what it is. Her dad's got it pretty locked down tight." She rolled her eyes. "A pretty boring rumor."

"I see." Sarah nodded reassured. "Thank you for explaining."

Cameron smiled at her. But the smile was soon removed by a worried expression, causing Sarah to get curious. Without hesitating, she stretched out her hand and gingerly touched the girl's neck, reading her vital functions. Yet, she was surprised when Cameron jerked a little at the touch. Sarah withdrew her hand and tilted her head in turn at seeing how Cameron's cheeks had reddened suddenly.

Sarah was confused, yet she predicated, "You're nervous."

Cameron cleared her throat, her voice was very raspy nevertheless. "Yes, about the...the meeting with the guidance counselor." She tried to gain control over her rapid heartbeat. "I so do not want to talk with him. Unfortunately, I have to, you know. To check if I'm fine."

"Are you?" Sarah asked softly, and Cameron could have sworn that there was honest concern in the raven-haired's face.

Sighing, Cameron answered, "Not really." She sniffed while she scratched her right eyebrow, she then added, "Still, I'll get over it. I always do." Looking into Sarah's jade eyes, she forced herself to smile. "You don't have to worry about me."

"But yet I do," Sarah confessed. "Worrying about you, I mean."

All of a sudden, Cameron had to fight back the tears that pooled in her doe eyes. It simply had been too much stress for her in the last few weeks and now all the corked up emotions were about to erupt.

Sarah placed her hand on Cameron's shoulder, squeezing it gently. And this time, and much to her delight, the girl didn't flinch. "You will _not_ get over everything, Cam." Slowly, she started massaging the girl's tense shoulder. "Some day you'll reach a point where you won't get over it. You have to talk to someone about what's bothering you."

"With Mr. Harris?!" Cameron snorted frowning.

The raven-haired rolled her eyes. "Of course not. But..."

"Sarah, I can't talk to my father nor can I talk to my brother, okay?" Cameron gave her best not to start sobbing. "I don't have somebody I could talk to. So the only option I have is to get over such things. Otherwise, I will perish of my own life."

Cameron looked out of the window, away from Sarah, considering just to get out of the pickup without a word. However, the hand on her shoulder suddenly cupped her chin and gently forced her to look at the terminator again. And latter looked intensively at her. "You never seem to consider me, no matter how often I tell you that I'd listen to you. I'm not here to judge or anything. I'm here to help."

"You are here to protect me and John," Cameron whispered while a single tear finally made its way down her cheek. "That's your mission."

"It's true," Sarah approved, brushing the tear away with her thumb. "However, it's my _will_ to help you."

Cameron licked her lips. "Is it?"

"Yes, it is," the raven-haired affirmed. "I don't pretend, Cam. I swear."

The girl was a bit confused by the last statement. But she knew it meant a lot for both of them. Taking a deep breath, she blinked the tears away and joked, "I can't go in class like this. I look miserable."

"First off," Sarah started, "you look great. And secondly, here you have a _blowrag_." She withdrew her hand from Cameron's chin to reach for the packet of tissues, breaking the body contact. And Cameron missed the touch as much Sarah did.

Yet, Cameron couldn't help but laugh. "So you scoured the internet for slang again, eh?"

"Well, I have to keep an ear on the ground," Sarah joked before she got serious again. "You have just three minutes and twenty-seven seconds left if you do not want to be late for school."

Cameron made a face. "That's not the problem. I have to go to Mr. Harris now anyway and I'm so freaking nervous."

"Just imagine him in his underwear," Sarah suggested all of a sudden, smiling.

"Eeewww!" Cameron shook with disgust. "Why did you say that?! Now I have this horrible picture in my mind! Oh God, make it go away!"

Sarah tilted her head at the girl's frantic, yet somehow amusing reaction. "You once said that to me when I went on a mission. Your exact words were 'if you get nervous, just imagine your enemy in underwear'. Then you laughed and I had no idea what you were trying to tell me with this."

"And now you know it?" Cameron asked, desperately trying to push the picture away.

The terminator nodded. "Yes, and I have to tell you that you humans are very, very strange."

"True," the girl chuckled before she added rather serious, "Well, I really think that I should go now." Right on cue, the bell rang. "Okay, see you later. Bye, Sarah." She got quickly out of the pickup and rushed to the gate, but not without stealing one last glance at the terminator once she stopped at said gate. Sarah smiled at her and Cameron just had to return the smile.

Afterwards, she went inside the building, slowly making her way to Harris' office. She stopped in front of the door, reading the words 'guidance counselor' on the door and all of a sudden she had a hunch. Nevertheless, she didn't show her growing skepticism when she knocked softly and entered the office. She saw Harris sitting at his desk, smiling at her greasily. She smiled back though because she couldn't help but to think of Sarah's 'advice' to imagine him in his underwear. "Good morning, Mr. Harris."

"Did it work?" Sarah asked Cameron when she and John hopped in the pickup just after school finished. And while John looked completely blank, Cameron laughed and answered, "More or less."

The terminator hit the road and the girl took a deep breath before she disclosed, "It was him." She paused and waited until Sarah and John both paid attention. Latter was sitting in the backseat and watched his sister curiously through the driving mirror. "The graffiti. There was a man, kissing a blonde behind one of the three doors. Mr. Harris was opined."

"You don't know that for sure," John remarked. "Or do you have any more indications?"

Cameron glared at the reflection of her brother in the mirror. "Indeed, John." Licking her lips, she started to explain,"The letters on the doors revealed the literal combination 'IDAN' if you read them from the top of the door window in the first two graffitis to the bottom of the door window in the last one. It's possible that IDAN may be a part of the word 'gu_idan_ce' like 'guidance counselor'. I think that Jordan was having an affair with Mr. Harris."

John wanted to say something, but Cameron continued with her supposition, "Moreover, the letters may also be part of the name A_idan_. And now guess what, Mr. Harris' first name is in fact Aidan." Pleased with herself, she leaned back in the seat.

"That all could simply be a coincidence," her brother snorted, shaking his head.

Annoyed by her brother, Cameron groaned, "Well, then tell me why Mr. Harris behavior towards me was more than odd. He didn't ask a lot about me but was fixated on forcing everything Jordan said to me out of me. _And_ when I told him, I suddenly remembered that Jordan had stormed out of the closet as I recommended her to talk to Mr. Harris, shouting 'No, not him!'."

Now John's doubts slowly crumbled. "Okay, maybe you're right. _Maybe_."

Kyle heard the engine of the pickup, signalizing the arrival of his children and Tin-Lady. He briefly looked out of the kitchen window and saw how John and Cameron got out of the vehicle, walking to the house. After the machine had turned off the engine, she hopped out of the pickup too, making her way to the house.

"Hey Dad," Cameron and John greeted him in unison. Kyle put on a smile and said, "Hey guys, how was school? Cam, you're alright?" He ignored the raven-haired who followed his children.

His daughter chuckled softly because she couldn't help but to think of Harris' underwear. Yet, she cleared her throat and reassured him, "I'm fine, Dad. The meeting wasn't half as terrible as I expected. Thanks to a good bet."

Kyle looked rather confused, yet Cameron waved her hand and smirked. Her father looked at John for an answer. But his son just shrugged and said, "Don't ask me. Seems to be an insider joke between her and Sarah."

"As if the machine would know what a joke is," Kyle hissed, now glaring at the calm terminator. He missed Cameron looking daggers at him when he sneered, "It's like fooling around with a toaster. Not very funny."

By now, Sarah was used to be abused by Kyle and turned a blind eye to it. Such things didn't make her angry or sad because she didn't wish for Kyle to like her. If John or worse, if Cam would insult her, then she would be hurt. But she couldn't care less for Kyle. Well, she had to keep him safe because John and Cameron loved him. However, this was the only reason why she protected Kyle Reese too, even if he was totally ungrateful.

"Listen," Kyle said them finally, "I have to tell you something." He waited until John and Cameron had set down at the kitchen table before he emulated his kids'deeds and explained, "It's about the woman I met about two weeks ago, you remember?"

John nodded. "Her name was Andrea, wasn't it? And her house was torched."

"Yes," his father confirmed. "I was the one who torched her house." Immediately, John's and Cameron's eyes grew wide with shock. "I had to because..." He didn't know how to formulate his thoughts. "Her full name is Andrea Goode and she...she created..."

"The Turk," Sarah cut in, leaning against the kitchen counter. "An artificial intelligence program that later became Skynet."

All eyes rested on her. Cameron and John were slightly overwhelmed hearing these new piece of information. Kyle sighed and went on, "She showed it to me and I set her house on fire to destroy the damn thing. But now she created a new one and entered a chess tournament. The winner..."

"Gets a military contract," the raven-haired tossed in once more. "You should have told me."

Facing the terminator, Kyle snapped at her, "I don't have to tell you anything, Tin-Lady. Don't forget that you're following my rules, not the other way round."

Now Kyle had finally succeeded in making Sarah angry. Yet, she remained calmed on the outside. "This is not about rules. I was sent back in time to protect the Reese siblings and to stop Skynet. But I cannot do that if you're working against me. The Turk is one of the most important factors in the creation of Skynet and I really have and need to know about things like that."

"Whatever," Kyle hissed before he turned his attention back to John and Cameron. Both appeared to be rather uncertain about the current situation. "I'm going to meet her in Pasadena where the tournament takes place. I want you to join me later once the tournament starts."

He stood up and held his hand out to Sarah. "Give me the car keys."

The terminator reached into her pocket and pulled the keys out, throwing them to him. "Drive safe, you hear?"

"I will," he whispered dangerously, "don't worry." Then he broke the stare challenge to give both his children a goodbye kiss before he went into the hallway to put on his leather jacket and to finally leave the house. "Bye."

"Bye, Dad," John and Cameron called after him, again in unison. They watched him through the window until he was out of side. Finally, Cameron turned to Sarah, noting her almost unnoticeable clenched teeth. "Uh...you wanna help me with my homework, Sarah?"

When the raven-haired looked at her, she seemed to be absolutely calm again and even smiled at Cameron. "Of course."

"Guys," John suddenly said, "don't you realize that dad took the pickup." Both Sarah and his sister stared at him. "This means that we have to take the bus!"

"For God's sake John, you'll survive it!"

Half an hour later, Kyle arrived at the hotel Andrea was staying and in which a huge convention hall was built. He went inside and had to swallow when he saw that the hall was full of robots and computers. It was his personal nightmare. But he had no time to look at them closely because somebody tapped him onto his shoulder all of a sudden. It was Andrea. "Hi Kyle."

"Andrea," he said after he had whirled around to face her, "hi!"

She kissed him on his cheek and joked, "You need to shave."

"I know," he answered, forcing himself to smile. "This here...is pretty fascinating." He used both hands to pointed at all the different exhibits. Actually, he found them disturbing and hated them, but he would never tell her. She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, isn't it?"

However, they left the hall and walked to the elevator, stepping in. While they chatted about this an that, Andrea pushed the button for the sixth floor where her room was. The elevator started up and stopped at the sixth floor. The door opened with a soft sound and they made their way to Andrea's hotel room. Once they were inside, she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the living area.

Kyle clenched his fists when he spotted the Turk there. "So is this better or worse." He pointed at the Turk _2_.

"Well,"Andrea started, taking a deep breath, "it's different really. More adaptable, but less predictable. Not as powerful for now, but um, it's quicker on its feet. It has a hunger for learning, but sometimes the lessons it learns..."

"Sounds more human," Kyle threw in, rubbing his neck as he felt uncomfortable.

Andrea nodded slowly at his words. "Well, if you want an analogy, I'd say that Turk 1 had grown into a brooding teenager, and Turk 2 is still more of a precocious child." She missed Kyle's look of disgust. "Dimitri Shipkov, my partner, taught the Turk how to play chess. If we should win the tournament, we'll split the money and the deal afterward."

Kyle was then slightly disturbed by how things were going with the Turk. Not least because he realized that in trying to destroy the Turk, he had ironically provoked the creation of a more adaptable computer that was 'quicker on its feet'. Maybe, he should have told Tin-Lady about it sooner.

"Why don't we buy a second car?" John demanded, exhaling deeply. He was sitting in the bus, on a window seat, next to Cameron. And his sister started to have a headache since he couldn't stop to complain all the time. However, John didn't notice Cameron's annoyance and said, "We'd have enough money for _twenty _damn pickups."

Sarah, who preferred to stand by the side of Cameron, looked down at him. Her face was blank, but in the inside she was a _bit _on the edge. "You're exaggerating. We do not have that much money."

John rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration. "I meant to exaggerate," he grumbled and folded his arms. "People do that to express something."

"I think you should stop expressing," Sarah advised him. "Otherwise, whether I want or not, I will have to throw you out of the bus for your sister's and my sake." She held a mischievous grin, causing John to glare at her and Cameron to suppress a laugh.

The Reese boy leaned back, closed his eyes and decided to use the drive to calm down again. He remained silent until Cameron licked her lips and asked him, "Have you written a note for Jordan?"

"Yes," he answered, opening his eyes. "Have you?" While John had moved on from the student's suicide, he could tell that it still bothered his sister a lot. About a thousand times he had tried to assure her that it hadn't been her fault. But his sister never listened to him. She shook her head and said, "No, I just don't know what to write."

"Why should you write notes for Jordan Cowan," Sarah asked, appearantly confused, but curiously. "She's dead."

John looked up, making a wry face. "Yeah, I remember watching her fall."

"Me too," the terminator replied. "How will she get the notes?"

"She won't." John sighed, now looking out of the window.

Sarah tilted her head. "But you said..."

"Sometimes," Cameron interrupted her and explained, "things happen and they are so bad..." She paused a few seconds before she went on, "that people don't know how to deal with their sadness, so they write it in a note."

Cameron looked into the raven-haired's jade eyes, searching for a kind of emotion she couldn't find. It was hard for her to see the uneffected terminator again, only a few hours after her heart-wrenching conversation with the worried Sarah. She seriously wondered why her protector constantly seemed to switch between machine and person all the time. However, she knew that she didn't like it because it scared and irritated her.

"But I thought people cried when they are sad," Sarah said.

Looking away, Cameron whispered, "Sometimes it's not enough."

Shortly after their discussion, they arrived at the convention hall, and they were all more than a bit impressed. Wandering around, Cameron and John felt somewhat strange at seeing the precursors of what was after their blood. Though, John found it easier to deal with when he made stupid comments and jokes about the robots. At last, he slapped Sarah on the back and teased her, "So, how is it to meet your long-lost relatives? No happy family reunion?"

At first, Cameron simply shook her head and smirked at her brother. But when she saw Sarah's surprisingly upset face, she nudged her brother and softly told him, "Shut up, John." Then she stated loudly, "I think we should go now. Dad's probably already waiting for us. John, lead the way to the auditorium."

"With pleasure, Sis," he replied sarcastically, breaking his way through all the people. "If you'd like to follow me."

Sarah and Cameron walked behind him and the Reese girl made use of this situation, asking the terminator, "Hey, um...about what did you talk to dad this morning?" She pondered a few moments, then added, "To be honest, it looked like...let's say an _argument _to me. And that thing before, when he told us about the Turk..." Frowning, she grabbed Sarah's upper arm and pulled her closer without coming to a halt. "Seriously, I don't wanna find my father pointing a gun at you in the kitchen some random morning. And yes, I know that it wouldn't do you much harm, but that doesn't mean that it actually has to happen."

"I understand." And then, Sarah showed her emotions again, smiling reassuringly at Cameron. "You don't have to worry. Kyle Reese never liked me, nevertheless he knows about the use of me as a tool. He tolerates me because I can protect you and John."

Meanwhile, Kyle watched the chess tournament as the Turk competed with another artificial intelligence program, created by Japanese developers. Normally, he wasn't very interested in chess, but this time he shared the thrill with the Japanese.

It was when he looked to his left that he noticed a stranger entering the auditorium. He couldn't help it, yet he found her alarmingly familiar. However, he was distracted by John and Cameron who sat next to him. Sarah wasn't with them. "How's it going?" John asked whispering.

"Cheer on the Japanese," Kyle told his children, "or Tin-Lady will kill Andrea for sure." John sighed while Cameron swallowed hard.

They watched the game with unhidden concern, all three lost in their own thoughts. Kyle was solely worried about Andrea, Cameron about Andrea _and _Sarah and John was brooding on every next possible move the both teams could make.

When the Japanese team lost its queen Kyle couldn't help but think that Andrea may soon win the game, but lose her life. Yet the Japanese made a sudden move, placing the the Turk checkmate. And the Reeses had to suppress a shout of delight.

"Thank God," Kyle sighed before he turned to John and Cameron and said, "Listen guys, I'll quickly go to Andrea to comfort her. Get Sarah and wait for me at the parking lot. I'll be there in about twenty minutes." His children nodded and agreed, "Okay, see you in a bit."

He held a big smile when he separated from them, heading to Andrea's hotel room. But on the way he bumped into the woman who was lurking in the auditorium. Kyle knew her he was sure, even though he didn't saw her face clearly because she ran off once she redressed her balance. All of a sudden, he had a bad feeling and rushed to the door of Andrea's hotel room which was open wide.

Stepping in, he saw Andrea lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Immediately, he dropped himself next to her to check her pulse. However, Andrea was dead. "Fuck!" he yelled, getting up quickly and chasing after the woman. He managed to catch up with her and tackled her in an alley. Unfortunately, she was well-trained and broke free, hitting him right into the face, so that his nose started bleeding.

But powered by his anger, Kyle repelled the woman's next punch and grabbed her at the wrist instead, kicking her into the stomach and sending her to the hard, dirty ground. He never attacked a woman if it was inevitable. Yet however, he couldn't care less about the female stranger. She had killed Andrea and that was enough for Kyle to slug her.

Tough, he stopped when he heard the police approaching. The woman used the distraction to free herself from Kyle's grip and ran away. But a few seconds later, she found herself surrounded by the police, with not choice but to surrender herself to them. In the meantime, Kyle slid down a wall while he listened how the Andrea's muderer got arrested. He clenched his fist and hit the ground. A sharp pain exploded in his knuckles, yet it was much less painful than the sting he felt about Andrea's death.

The next day, John hacked into the country's law enforcement database and pulled up the image of the stranger Kyle fought last night. They all looked at the picture and Sarah informed them, "She's a Resistance agent." Her eyes wandered to the Reese siblings. "One of your best soldiers in the future."

"I want to talk to her," Kyle stated, leaving no room for any contradictions. "I'll pose as her lawyer." Afterwards, he left the room and both his children could only sigh. They knew that their father was upset about what had happened and took it very hard. "Poor dad."

However, none of them knew that a T-888 also hacked into the database. At the moment, he walked up to a pair of talking police officers. When they saw him one of them inquired, "Can I help you, Sir?"

He didn't get an answer because the terminator grabbed him and lifted him up into the air before he tossed the officer aside. The other one took out his gun and pointed it at the T-888 who held up his hands. The officer shouted, "Don't move!" He took his handcuffs and slowly approach the attacker. "You're under arrest!"

The officer didn't know that this was the terminator's purpose.

It was Ellison's job to pay the stranger a visit. He sat down across her and didn't waste much time with unnecessary politeness. "I'm agent Ellison." He showed her the photo from her apartment. There was blood everywhere. Ellison had tested it and had found that it was the un-normal blood. "We've found a strange blood-like substance in your apartment. Can you tell me something about it?"

He was a professional, yet he could barely hide his excitement.

"You won't believe me anyway," the woman snorted. And Ellison sighed, "Tell me something I don't know."

The black-haired leaned forward and gave him the grim warning, "You all gonna die."

"Well, thank you." Ellison decided not to waste any more time on the woman. He got up and said, "I have to go now. Good bye." He didn't wait for a response but simply turned around and left, walking past the T-888 when he did so.

Kyle was tensed up as he walked in the interrogation room a little while later, wearing a grey suit. The woman was already waiting for him and he had to fight for control when he sat down oppositely to her. The black-haired smirked at her and admitted, without beating about the bush, "I know who you are, who you _really _are, Kyle Reese."

"And I know you're a Resistance fighter," Kyle admitted for his part. "You work for my children."

The woman nodded. "Listen, I didn't kill Andrea Goode." She cleared her throat, looking around nervously. "I just wanted to destroy the prototype. Goode was dead before I got into her room, and the prototype had been stolen."

Kyle considered whether to believe her or not. Who else should have killed Andrea? He was about to say something when the woman suddenly started begging, "Please leave, Kyle. I know that a T-888 is after me. You have to leave."

"But...," Kyle started. Yet, he was interrupted by the woman once more, "My sister carried your photo for luck." Stunned, Kyle stared at her. "I'm Dana Brewster," she revealed her name finally, causing his mouth to drop open and Kyle to stutter, "Brewster... Kate, she told me she had a sister." He realized this Dana Brewster was the sister of his deceased wife, Kate Brewster, and the maternal aunt of his kids.

"Yes," Dana said, smiling sadly before she urged, "Now leave."

Kyle wanted to stay, but if a T-888 was possible around then it wasn't safe here. He stood up and promised, "I'll come back, and we'll free you." Afterwards, he left, walking rather quickly, and met John, Cameron and Sarah outside, waiting at the pickup. They had come with him to watch out for him not doing something stupid. "Dad, what..."

"We have to get her out," he stated. "She's important for us." He didn't plan to tell his children about Dana's identity. At least not yet.

The perfect chance to free her was when Dana was in a transport van she began to lock-pick her handcuffs. And Kyle chased the van while Sarah climbed onto the roof of the pickup and jumped on the transport. At first the guards tried to get rid of her and even started to fire at her, but Sarah soon stopped. Yet, even if it would have been easier, she refused to kill them because she knew it would spare her trouble with Cameron.

While Sarah turned the engine off, Kyle stopped the pickup, but not without seeing in the rear-mirror that the T-888 chasing them. "Damn!" he cursed loudly, reaching for his gun. He turned to his kids on the backseat and ordered them, "John, Cameron, stay inside the car!"

"Dad!" Cameron shouted. "Wait!" However, he didn't listened to her and jumped out of the vehicle. He released the safety catch, turning to Sarah who freed Dana by easily breaking up the heavy metal doors of the van. "HEY Tin-Lady, I need some help here!"

Immediately, Sarah whirled around, seeing the T-888 approaching quickly. She started running, past Kyle, and engaged in combat with the terminator. Kyle on the other hand, made his way to the van and Dana who had just climbed out of it. By now, she had gotten rid of the handcuffs. "You're okay?" Kyle asked. After all, the ride had been a bit rough when Sarah had jumped on the transport.

"Yeah," she replied. "Let's go. We have to leave."

They ran to the pickup and got. Kyle started the engine and was about to hit the road when Cameron argued, "What about Sarah? She's still fighting with the T-888." She looked through the rear window, watching how the hostile terminator, who had lost an arm in the fight, sent Sarah to the dusty ground with a blow. The male terminator seemed like he may defeat Sarah, and Cameron recognized that with horror. "We have to help her!"

Dana growled, "Forget it! If we don't want to get killed, we have to leave now!" She turned around to Cameron. "A machine isn't worth the life of a human!"

"Listen Lady," the Reese girl snapped, "I've got no idea who you are, so please, shut up and stop interfiring!"

John was taken aback by his sister's unusual behavior. However, he was pleased that she met somebody head-on once in her life. They were so deflected that they didn't even noticed Kyle getting out of the pickup until they heard gun shots. He had fired to distract the terminator, giving Sarah a chance to break free.

Without thinking, Dana, John and Cameron jumped out of the pickup too. A big mistake because the T-888 managed to get Sarah's Glock-17 and get the chance to fire it before Sarah hit him with a metal pipe, taking him down. The bullet stroke Dana who fell to the floor, yelling and bleeding heavily.

Kyle rushed to her side while Sarah shouted, "John, I need your pocket knife!"

John _and _Cameron ran to her, dropping down next to her. Sarah held the terminator down and ordered, "Extract the CPU!" He stared questioningly at her and she explained, "Cut his head open!"

Trying to forget that he was cutting into a skull, John drove the blade as deep as he could, exposing the metal. In the end, he managed to extract the CPU, setting the T-888 off. All three let out a deep calming breath, even if Sarah wouldn't have needed it. Yet, the pause was short once they heard Kyle yell, "John! Cameron!"

They ran back to him and the uncoscious stranger. The group took her back to their house, placing her on the kitchen counter. But her injury was beyond Sarah's capability to treat.

"She needs immediate medical attention," Kyle groaned, roughing his hair. "We have to kidnap a doctor!"

Cameron, covered in the black-haired's blood, contradicted him, "Dad, we can't kidnap a doctor! Let's get her to the hospital!"

"No!" Kyle refused, and when his daughter opened her mouth he revealed to John and Cameron, "She's your mother's sister! Your aunt!"

His children stared at him motionless before John ran out of the house, obviously overwhelmed. Cameron wanted to follow him, getting him back, but Kyle stopped her, "Cameron, come back! Help me!" Desperately, she rushed back to her father.

In the meantime, Ellison went over the event with the guards before he found what looked like a robot arm. "What the...?"

Kyle and Cameron did everything they could to keep pressure on Dana's wound while Sarah sat at the table and was writing a note which she would later put into her pocket. Suddenly Dana stopped breathing as John returned home, with Allison behind him.

Allison and Kyle stared at each other a few seconds, then she began to perform CPR on Dana.

___"On July 16th, 1945 in the mountains outside of Los Alamos, New Mexico, the world's first atomic bomb exploded. A white light pierced the sky with such intensity that a blind girl claimed to see the flash from a hundred miles away. After witnessing the explosion, J. Robert Oppenheimer quoted a fragment of the Bhagavad Gita declaring, 'I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.' His colleague, Ken Bainbridge, put it in another way when he leaned close to Oppenheimer and whispered, 'Now we are all sons of bitches'.... Now we are all sons of bitches."_


	7. Episode 7

**_Episode 7; Old Memories_**

_"All of us wear masks. They can be worn out of love and the desire to remain close to those around us. To spare them from the complicated realities of our frayed psyches. We trade honesty for companionship, and in the process never truly know the hearts closest to us."_

Still unconscious and bleeding readily, Dana was lying on the kitchen counter. But at least she was alive.

The minute John and Allison had rushed through the front door, she had stopped breathing. Without wasting time on questions, Allison had immediately commenced CPR on the black-haired. John, who had been standing at her doorstep all of a sudden, gasping for air and begging her to come with him, had told her about a seriously injured woman, and that she had been shot. Yet, when Allison had asked him to elaborate, John had just urged her to hurry.

Finally, Allison had grabbed her absent husband's doctor's case, ordering John to hop into her car and to lead the way. With Allison flooring the gas pedal, they had sped to the Reese House, and when they had arrived it, they had burst in. Allison had stared at Kyle for the split of a second, a dozen of different emotions crushing down on her. But then she had seen the woman on the kitchen counter, and had reacted instantly.

While she had medicated the lifeless casualty, Allison had briefly wondered about the bullet wound, wanting to know who had fired it at the woman. Allison, however, had pushed the thought aside and had concentrated on her task fully instead. Fortunately, she had a little more medical knowledge than most of the other nurses had, thanks to Charley, and her own curiosity.

Yet, once the woman was breathing again, Allison looked across to Kyle, and declared, "Bullet nicked her left lung. I got a fragment lodged in the soft tissue." She took a deep breath, before she added, "I can get it out. But will someone please tell me what the hell is going on around here?!" Her voice had gotten louder with every word. "Huh?"

"She's a machine," Dana, whose eyelids fluttered, suddenly babbled, drawing everyone's attention. "She's a liar. She's a liar... She's a..." She closed her eyes again, and Allison shouted immediately, "Sedative in my bag!"

Then Dana opened up her eyes once more, and continued babbling, "Everything she says is a lie! Don't listen to her! Don't listen to her! Don't... Don't..." When she turned her head to the side, she saw Sarah preparing the sedative for injection and yelled as loud as she could, "DON'T! You get that bitch away from me!" She struggled, running the risk of falling of the counter. "Now! No! No! Get that bitch away from me!"

All five, Kyle, John, Cameron, Allison, and Sarah, were surprised, and confused by Dana's reaction to the terminator, and it was Allison who grabbed Sarah's wrist and hissed, "You heard her."

"Get away from me!" Dana kept on shouting, being on the verge of tears, either because of the pain or because of Sarah. Or probably both. "Now!" Glaring at Sarah, Allison took the needle from her and yelled at the innocent looking raven-haired, "You want her to die?!" Allison didn't even knew this woman, but if the injured black-haired reacted so hotly to her simple sight, she assumed that the black-haired linked danger to this Sarah.

Sarah, however, appeared to be rather uneffected as she said, "If I wanted her to die..."

"SARAH!" Kyle screamed, looking daggers at her. He wanted to add something, yet Cameron detered him from doing so by pleading the terminator, "Sarah, leave! Just leave the kitchen, please!"

The raven-haired tilted her head at first, actually seeming to be hurt, before she nodded finally, and did not just leave the kitchen but the house. She headed for the garage, where she would deal with the off-stated T-888 they had taken along.

In the house meanwhile, John was eager to help. "Dad! Come on! What can I do?"

Finally, Allison's efforts, and the Reese family's assistance succeeded in stabilizing Dana. She was unconscious again, but at least the bleeding had stopped. And now she moaned from time to time, obviously dreaming.

_Kate Brewster was sitting on the hard, dirty ground with her back leaning against the wall in an dimly lit and stuffy underground tunnel. Her plasma rifle was resting in her lap, while she pulled a photo out of the pocket of her camo colored vest. It showed a smiling man, who was waving into the camera. He was young, had brown hair, blue eyes, and a sexy two-day-old beard. Kyle Reese looked so happy on that picture, still unaware of his purpose to become the father of all destiny._

_"Why the hell are you looking at this damn thing all the time?" Dana asked, walking over to her sister. She stopped next to her, and arched an eyebrow. "I've really got no idea why Reese gave it to you. I think it's strange and creepy." The black-haired sneered, and added, "Besides, it's not like he would have had that oomph, you know. So no need to drool over him, Sis." _

_The younger Brewster snorted, and playfully nudged her sister on the shinbone. Nevertheless, she was grinning. "I'm certainly not drooling over him." She put the photo back into her pocket, before she grabbed her rifle and stood up. "Reese__ said it's a lucky charm. You're just jealous because you got no picture from her."_

_"Of course," the black-haired said, rolling her eyes. "But seriously, Kate, it's a picture. Nothing but a bloody picture of a man who is long-gone." She patted Kate on the shoulder, looking at her worriedly. "Don't fall in love with someone you don't even know. Kyle Reese is...is an idol, created by sagas and stories. I bet you'd be disappointed if you'd actually meet him."_

_Kate sighed, then nodded. "You're probably right, Dana." But smirking again, she looked at her sister, and said, "He really hasn't _that_ oomph." Both women had to laugh, and Kate was glad and relieved to hear her sister doing so. _

_Since her lover was vanished without a trace, probably killed by a terminator, __Dana just wasn't the same anymore. _

_"Hey," Syles, one of those soldiers, greeted the two Brewsters when he went over to them, Billie Jean Wisher in tow. "You're ready?"_

_Dana and Kate both nodded, and the group made its way to the surface. By now, they were all used to the sight that they found there; a nightmare landscape, strewn with rubble and ruin, where people hid from the machines in such underground tunnels like the one they had just come from. And they were engaged in combat instantly. Commands and orders were shouted, weapons were fired off._

_Some terminators separated Dana, Syles and Wisher from Kate, who managed to escape at the last minute. The three others were captured along with their assault team by a terminator, and were taken to a Resistance holding ground._

_When Dana woke up with a headache, it was almost completely dark. But she was able to see Wisher lying on her stomach across from her. Praying for her to be alive, she whispered, "Jean! Hey, Jean! Wake up!" She sighed in relief when the other woman opened her eyes and looked at her. "You're alright?"_

_"Do I look so?" Wisher hissed back, and let her head hit the dusty floor. "We're screwed, Dana. We're so screwed. I'm so sorry."_

_Dana groaned and shook her head. "Stop talking like that! And moreover, stop apologizing!" Her expression softened a bit. "It's not your fault. We'll get out of here, okay? Listen, we'll get out of here." Her voice was steady, calming Wisher down again. "We'll get..."_

_All of a sudden, somebody opened the door to the room they were in, and it was a more__ primtive rubber-skinned Series 600 terminator. Dana and Wisher pretended to sleep like all the other soldiers in the room. But that didn't keep the terminator from his duty. It fused a __barcode on each fighter's arm, also in Dana's and Wisher's. The procedure hurt terribly and made them cry out in pain._

Kyle, Allison, John, and Cameron were in the living room, and Allison couldn't help but collapse onto the couch after hearing what Kyle had just told her. She was confused, shocked and to cap it all, covered in a woman's blood she didn't even knew, and was lying on the kitchen counter. "So," she started tentatively. "Skynet. Robots." She pointed in the direction where the garage was. "And she's a..."

John sniffed and nodded, answering, "Yes, she's a..." He didn't keep on talking after these words but simply stared at Allison, just like Kyle and Cameron did. However, his father sighed and asked, "You need a..."

"Minute?" Allison finished his sentence, swallowing audibly hard. Kyle, on the other hand, scratched his head, while he shrugged, and replied, "I was going to say a drink."

"Oh." She clicked her tongue and answered, "Yeah. That too."

Kyle couldn't believe that Allison indeed seemed willing to give credence to him, and his story. And then he had to think about what would have been, how things would have been, if he had told her in the first place. Would she have believed him? Would she have come with them? Shaking his head, he quickly pushed his silly thoughts aside and turned to his kids. "Why don't you go upstairs? Dana's well provived for, and I guess you guys really need a shower."

John and Cameron looked down at themselves, finally recognizing all the blood stains on their clothes, and on each other's faces. They both felt tired and weary, overwhelmed with emotion. Not just that they had almost been killed, but they had almost seen somebody die. And, to top it all off, one of the rare important people was sitting on their couch, looking at them as if she expected them to tell her that this all was just a bad joke.

"I didn't even say hi," Cameron whispered, more to herself than to anyone else. Allison forced herself to smile at the girl and reassured her, "Don't worry about it. You were me a great help, Cam." Then she faced her brother. "You too, John." She licked her dry lips and continued, "I'm sure we'll get the chance to talk later. But you should get some rest for mow." Her eyes wandered to Kyle. "I have to talk with your dad anyway."

The Reese siblings nodded in unison before they walked away, making their ways upstairs. They parted in the hallway, but before, John asked his sister hesitately, "You're alright?" He swallowed at the pretty awkward situation. "I mean, if you...wanna talk about...the bleeding lady down there..." It was a poor attempt to make a joke, for John felt like he had to comfort his sister. The trouble was just that he was incredibly bad at it. Especially if he was a nervous wreck, too.

"Thanks, John," Cameron answered, smiling weakly. "But I'll shift for myself."

He sighed with relief, because right now, all he wanted was to be alone. At least for a while. Sometimes it was really hard for him to act tough, to be strong for his family. But that was what his father and his sister seemed to expect from him all the time. So John gave his best to answer their expectations, cracking jokes and being there for Cam, no matter how finished he was himself. "Alright. See you later then."

Cameron watched her brother turning around, ready to go, when she called his name insecurely, "John..." Waiting for her to speak on, he faced her again. He noticed that she shifted from one foot to the other, and he assumed that she wanted to talk after all. However, he was rather suprised as he found himself in a tight embrace a few seconds later. And after a perplexed moment, he hugged her back, allowing himself to be weak for once in almost seventeen years.

They held each other for several seconds, before they finally let go. "See you later," Cameron then said and smiled weakly at John, who returned her smile. Afterward, she went to her room that had an own bathroom luckily. So John could use the main one.

Once Cameron was in her small but sufficient bathroom, she got completely undressed, and quickly decided that she would throw the jeans and the sweater into the trash. She had long found out that it was practically impossible to get dried blood out of the fabric. Fortunately, they had enough money for another shopping spree, if not necessarily for twenty cars.

She turned on the shower, waiting for the water to get warm. Then she stepped into the shower and let the water jet hit her face, washing away the blood and dirt. And even though the water had a nice temperature, Cameron felt cold. Cold, lonesome, and empty. But all of a sudden, a certain someone's face popped up in her mind's eye, and didn't leave, even as she got out of the shower and put on fresh clothes.

In the meantime, Allison was standing in the garden to take some deep, calming breaths. Because after Kyle had told her about Skynet and terminators, Judgment Day, and the nuclear apocalypsem, she really needed a break. But her quiet moment was interrupted by a sudden noise that came out of the garage. It sounded strange and pretty awful, like metal was scratching metal.

Allison got curious, remembering Sarah's leaving earlier. The _terminator _had gone into the garage, and since then, she had not seen her again. Maybe she was still in there, in the garage, doing God-knows-what. Yet, Allison spontaneously decided to go and see. But she was shocked and disgusted when she stumbled upon the metal endoskeleton that was stained with blood. "Wow!"

She backed off and looked up from it, directly at Sarah, whose hands were covered in blood and who was holding what appeared to be a muscles. The raven-haired seemed rather uneffected and greeted her evenly, "Allison."

Swallowing hard, Allison spotted the pack of flesh that was lying on the work bench. "Hey," she said nervously, "is that really necessary?" She looked back down at the endoskeleton, observing its black eyes. "It's dead, right?" Her eyes wandered back to Sarah. "Or powered off? Whatever?"

"Every component must destroyed beyond repair or recovery," the terminator explained unperturbed. "Even a single unaccounted for piece of the endoskeleton could alter the course of technological evolution. And hasten the arrival of Judgment Day." Sarah could have been friendlier and less frightening if she would have wanted, but she didn't take special trouble to soothe somebody's nerves who she didn't care for.

Allison was at a loss of words at this speech. However, she managed to say, "Uh, yeah?" She paused, then admitted, "You know, you freak me the hell out." Looking up and down at Sarah, she added, "On the outside you're just an attractive woman. But one the inside...you're a..."

"Hyperalloy combat chassis," Sarah finished her sentence.

Snorting, Allison asked sarcastically, "Is that a complicated was of saying robot?" And suddenly, she felt as if the raven-haired was glaring at her, even if her facial features didn't move a bit.

"Cybernetic organism," the raven-haired answered, giving her best not to stress her words. She really wondered why nobody was able to tell a robot from a cyborg. There was a _big _difference after all. "Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton."

"Ok. Scary robot," Allison repeated condescendingly. "And here you are carving up this guy into chum." She watched Sarah grabbing what looked like a stick, before she turned to the cinderblock furnace in the middle of the garage and told her, "He's not a guy. He's a scary robot."

Allison couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow. "Ok," she started. "He's a scary robot? You." She pointed at Sarah. "You are a VERY scary robot."

"You should go," Sarah adviced her and lighted the thermite in her hand. "It's not safe for you here."

Immediately Allison flinched and took to her heels, going back into the house and leaving Sarah on her own. But the raven-haired wouldn't complain, for she liked to be alone when she was working. Or at least not surrounded by people she didn't like and told her things she couldn't care less about.

_Wisher was lying on the ground, more dead than alive, while Dana persistently tried to wake her by calling her name over and over again. The pitful woman had been tortured, but Dana didn't know what exactly they had done to her. She just knew that it must have been horrible, and Dana began to take fright of being dragged to the basemant, where music was inexplicably playing. It was beautiful classical music. The atmosphere made it creepy and weird though. _

_"I'm sorry," Wisher whispered suddenly, opening her weary eyes. "This is all my fault... Mine. Forgive me, please." A tear made its way down her dirty cheek, leaving a clean path. "I'm sorry."_

_Huffing, Dana contradicted her, "I told you it's not. You're a Resistance fighter for God's sake! So get ahold of yourself!" She didn't mean to yell, especially not at a tortured woman. Dana, however, was desperate and scared, losing her self control more and more._

_Wisher looked at her and confessed, "I'm Andrea Goode." At first, Dana didn't seem to be able to process her words. But then the black-haired's jaw dropped open, and Jean alias Andrea admitted her role in creating Skynet, "I'm the one who built the Turk. I never meant to... I never thought that..." She chocked back her tears before she begged, "Please Dana, forgive me. If I could turn back time..."_

_Dana had no idea what to say or what to do. A part of her wanted to strangle Wisher, while another one felt pity for her. Yet, Dana had no time to think about it because a few minutes later, a terminator entered the room and grabbed her. She knew that the machine would take her to the basement, and she struggled, event hough she was aware of the fact that it was absolutely useless. "Let go of me, you damn toaster! Let me go!"_

_Cursing, Andrea's fists collided with the floor as she watched how the terminator disappeared with Dana, heading for the basement. Andrea felt guilty about what the machine down there would do to her, about everything that had happened. She closed her watery eyes and listened to Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor, with the knowledge that she __had created something that wouldn't stop until it would have extinguished mankind for ever. _

_"Lena?" Dana who was strapped at a chair, breathed her opponent's name in total disbelieve as said opponent stepped out of the dark, into the light of a lamp on the desk between them."That's impossible. You're dead..."_

_The raven-haired shook her head and explained coolly, "I'm TOK715. Your friend is dead. I know that, because I'm the one, who killed her."_

_"YOU GODDAMN METAL BITCH!" Dana yelled. "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT, I SWEAR!" Tough she had been sure that Lena was dead, it was still hard to get it confirmed after all. It was like a stab into her heart. She couldn't decide what hurt more, either the torture she had to undergo or the pain in her soul that the one, who racked her not just looked like her deceased lover but was also the one, who had killed her. Finally, Dana blacked out._

_Nobody knew how much time had passed, when the prisoners awaked to find that they had been left alone. But there was a hatchet left for them to break free of their chains. _

"What did you say to Allison?" Kyle demanded furiously. After Allison had come back into the house, she had acted rather strange and appeared to be nervous, and he had instantly known that Tin-Lady was to blame for his former girlfriend's behavior, for she had been in the garage before. So he had gone to the machine with the aim to confront her. He had found her standing next to an improvised cinderblock furnace, with her back to the door.

Sarah turned around to face him, suppressing a frustrated groan. She couldn't get tired per se, but she could get tired of having annoying conversations with annoying people. She simply wanted to do her job, and apart from this, to be left alone. "I freak her the hell out."

"I'll bet you do. I'll just bet," he hissed. "I know what you're thinking. I may not know how you think, but I know what you're thinking about. And what you're thinking about right now is exactly what you should not think about." He licked his lips and added, "I didn't leave Allison because she was a threat to me or to John and Cameron. We're a threat to her, do you understand?"

Of course, Sarah understood him. However, she thought he was confusing and irritating, and moreover, completely inefficient. The terminator answered dispassionately, "You were right to leave her."

Not reacting to her comment, Kyle warned her, "You don't go near her. You don't touch her." He stressed each word. "You swear to me, you'll leave her alone, or so help me, I'll find a way of taking you apart piece by piece." He looked as if he was already picturing all the components and how to get rid og them in his mind, and as if he was enjoying it a lot.

"I swear," Sarah said, doing him the favor, so that he would go away hopefully.

"So do I." Kyle paused and looked at the empty thermite pit before he asked, "That thing's done, right? It's vapor."

Sarah really wanted to put an end to this discussion, telling him factually, "One missing component." At his displeased and questioning look, she defined, " His left hand." But she assured him, "I'll find it."

"Everything needs to be destroyed," he declared, as if Sarah wasn't aware of this. "Everything."

"Everything," the raven-haired agreed.

Kyle glared threateningly at her. "Every last bolt. Get it done."

"I swear," she repeated. Kyle waited a few seconds, still glaring at her, before he left the garage finally, and Sarah sighed heavily. Sometimes it was so exhausting to be self-aware, able to be sentient. After all, it meant that she could be bored, angry, sad, and so on. Then she quickly put Vick's chip into her holster, and glanced up suspiciously as she heard approaching footfalls, for the _third_ time now.

But her expression softened immediately, once she recognized by the way of walking that her latest visitor was Cameron. The only person in the house she didn't mind being looked up by at the moment. Yet, she was not truly happy to see the Reese girl for a certain reason. And this reason was the note she had written recently.

Cameron was still a bit nervous in Sarah's presence, but she acted a lot more confident now than at the beginning. Though she was sure that the terminator had already registered her, she knocked at the open door and waited until Sarah turned to her. Cameron noted that she was covered in scratches, bloody and dirty. "Hey, am I disturbing you? I can leave if you're busy."

"No," Sarah reassured her, noticing that Cameron had obviously showered. "You're the only one, whose company I'm fond of." Making a face, she added, "Quite contrary to your father's or Allison Young's."

Setting foot in the garage, Cameron couldn't help but smile proudly at Sarah's confession. "They paid you a visit, too?" She looked at the cinderblock furnace and its content, guessing that it was, or rather _had been_, the terminator they had shut off earlier this day, while the raven-haired confirmed, "Yes, she did. Unfortunately."

Cameron chuckled softly, but then asked a bit puzzled, "You don't like Allison?" She could easily understand why Sarah didn't like Kyle. Yet, she wondered why she didn't seem to like one of the greatest women Cam had ever met. "Before, when she shouted at you, that was because she was stressed. She didn't mean to be rude. Actually, she's very friendly and..."

"She called me a very scary robot," Sarah interrupted her, stressing the word 'very'. "So please forgive me, if I don't love her to death. And please forgive me that I probably won't come to love her." Sarah had no idea why she took her anger out on the one of all people, aside from John, she cared about, the one who had done nothing wrong, the one, who treated her like a real person and not just like a tool.

Taken aback by Sarah's harsh reply, the Reese girl apologized, "Um... I... I'm sorry. I just thought that... Sorry."

Sarah felt guilty and ashamed, but her note had made her realize that it was probably for the better for Cameron not to be into her that much. She turned away and demanded curtly, "What do you want here, Cameron?"

Now, Cameron's smile faded once and for all. The terminator had never talked to her like that but had always been calm and sympathetically. So she didn't understand why Sarah acted this way all of a sudden. Maybe her father and Allison had simply annoyed her so much that she was simply pissed off after such a long, strenuous day, and wanted to be left alone for once. But Cameron needed to talk to someone, and Sarah had told her she would listen to her. "Well, I don't want to watch my aunt fighting for her life, actually." She chewed her bottom lip, then admitted, "And with Allison in the house, the situation overwhelms me somehow."

"I see," Sarah answered and nodded, but refused to say anything more as she started to clean the bloody knife that she had used to cut the flesh off of the enemy terminator's endoskeleton.

Cameron was hurt by how dismissively Sarah was towards her. To be honest, the _terminator_ was the one of whom she had thought would _not _be so mean to her right now. However, she decided for a last attempt and asked tentatively, "What did you write in that note? Before, when dad and I were trying to stop Dana's bleeding."

"Nothing to get excited about," the raven-haired told her shrugging. Unaffected, she faced Cameron again as she brought up the question, "Why did you come to me, instead of going into your room? You wouldn't have to watch your aunt then."

"Well," Cameron started, trying to swallow the lump in her throat, "I did because you told me that I can talk to you if I have a problem. That was _yesterday_, you remember?." She gave her best to ignore the sting in her eyes as tears fought their way into them. "But now, when I want to talk, you treat me like shit." Sniffing, she folded her arms and snapped, "Did you just offer me your help so that you can make fun of me now? Is it amusing for you to spurn me? Congratulations, Sarah, for making me believe that you'd really care for me!"

Finally, it was all too much for her and her tears broke free, running down her cheeks. "Dad was right... You're nothing but a stupid machine."

Cameron turned around and stormed out of the garage, leaving a perplexed Sarah behind. But Sarah's wires and files were fast enough too proceed the whole situation, so that she knew what to do, and caught up with the girl just two meters away from the garage. "Cam, wait." She grabbed Cameron's arm and urged her to face her. "Listen, I..."

"Leave me alone," Cameron demanded, struggling to get free. "You've got what you wanted. I won't bother you anymore."

Sarah did the only thing she opined would remedy the situation; she wrapped her arms around the girl and hold her tight. The terminator realized that all this was more difficult that she had thought. She wanted to be Cameron's friend, wanted to help her, but on the other hand she feared that this was exactly what had caused _her _Cameron's life. Future Cameron had been close to her, and when Sarah had written the note, she had comprehended that this had possible been the reason why future Cameron did what she did.

Defeated, Cameron stopped fighting and hugged Sarah back finally, burying her head at the raven-haired's neck while she sobbed softly. "I'm sorry," Sarah whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"Why did you?" the girl in her arms asked, withdrewing a bit so that she could look Sarah into her jade-green eyes. "You told me I could talk to you."

Nodding enthusiastically, Sarah affirmed, "Yes. Yes, you can talk to me. I promise, I will never again react like I just did." She searched for the right words. "It's hard to explain. It's...It's just very complicated."

"Has it something to do with the future?" Cameron inquired, and Sarah nodded. "It would be so much simplier, if you'd tell me what happened, or _will_ happen," the Reese girl sighed heavily.

"It _won't_ happen," Sarah immediately answered. "It's my mission to avert _thi_s. And I will suceed. I'm just not sure yet how to do so."

Cameron was confused and curious, but she knew that Sarah wouldn't tell her. So she decided to remain silent and instead, tightened her arms around the terminator and burried her head at her shoulder once more, concentrating on the comfort she found in Sarah's embrace. And Sarah noted that she was doing something she propably shouldn't; being more to Cam than her simple protector. Why had humans to be so tricky?

"Now you'll have to shower again," Sarah joked, smirking as they let go of each other after what felt like an eternity and yet appeared to be not enough. "That's what happens if you hug somebody who's covered in blood and dirt. You get bloody and dirty too."

"It's kind of nasty, but I don't mind for once." Cameron shrugged and smiled, declaring, "The hug was totally worth it." Moreover, she was pretty sure that the water would be comfortably warm now. "But I guess you could need a shower, too?"

Sarah looked down at herself and pretended to brood over Cameron's suggestion. "You think so?"

"Yes," the girl chuckled. "I really do."

They went into the house, both unaware of the fact that Allison had watched them through the kitchen window. And Allison had had a bad feeling at seeing how Cameron seemed to 'like' the 'very' scary robot.

_When the Resistance fighters got back to their base, they found the terminators had located and attacked it. Immediately, they searched for survivors, and Dana for her sister most of all. But they didn't find any survivors. They were all dead, and Dana was glad that she hadn't found her sister. But weeks later, at a Resistance base, she recognized another face. The face of her murdered lover, the murderer, and her torturer. "YOU!"_

_Sarah tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the frantic woman who grabbed a rifle all of a sudden and pointed the barrel at her. She was aware of the circumstance that most of the other soldiers disapproved of her, the fewest had the courage to attack her, though. The most logical thing to do was to kill her, but Cameron Reese had strictly forbidden her to kill somebody, and Sarah would stick by this rule. So she decided to only disarm her quickly._

_However, she didn't get the chance to do so, because another Resistance fighter tried to calm the woman down, wresting the rifle from her. "Dana, stop it. She was reprogrammed," the young man explained. "She's one of ours."_

_"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Dana shouted, reaching for the weapon. "SHE KILLED LENA! SHE..."_

_Another Resistance fighter came to help his friend and together they managed to pin Dana to the ground, throwing the rifle far off. "Sarah," the older one said to the emotionless terminator,"go and get Reese!" And while Sarah left the scene to get her mentor, he said to Dana, "I'm sorry, but she's a Resistance member now. We can't let you shoot her."_

_Dana fought back at first, yet she gave up eventually. And after she had talked to Cameron and John Reese, she had not just learned that her sister had been sent back in time via a newly-developed time-portal to protect Kyle Reese, but also that she had to accept TOK715 alias Sarah Connor as her ally. She hated this metal bitch like poison, dreamt of how to destroy her, but in the end, she couldn't do more than to avoid the terminator._

_TOK715 had been the first reprogrammed terminator, and afterwards, a lot more had followed on it. But i__t was about two months later, when another reprogrammed machine malfunctioned and started killing people in the base. It was about to kill Dana, who had tried to stop it, as Sarah showed up and destroyed it. Then she looked at Dana and told her, "Sometimes they inexplicably go bad. Do you require my help, Dana Brewster?"_

___"Fuck off," the black-haired spit, and Sarah turned away, eager to help the wounded soldiers._

___A few months after this incident, Dana agreed to go to the year 2007. While she told her friends about the mission, she saw Billie Jean Wisher of whom she knew was Andrea Goode in real. Goode gave her a nod, implying that she knew what Dana's mission was and accepted it as a means of freeing herself from her guilt. _

"So was Kate from the future too?" Allison asked Kyle. When they had met and Kyle had told her about his kids, he had also told her that his wife, Katherine Brewster, had died two years after their birth because of leukemia. "Was she really John and Cameron's mom? Did she even exist?"

Kyle was tired of all these questions. Yet, he answered them all truthfully. "Yes, she did exist and yes, she was from the future too." Then he sighed and looked at the floor. "But she didn't die because of leukemia. A terminator killed her."

Allison didn't know what to say. She couldn't imagine how painful it must have been to lose the one he loved to such a robot. "And...," she stuttered, "and Dana is Kate's sister and John and Cameron's aunt?"

"Yes," Kyle said. "Dana doesn't know however. John and Cameron's lineage is a closely guarded secret."

Licking her dry lips, Allison started, "It was because of all...all this?" She noted how Kyle looked down crestfallen at her words. "Hey...," she sadly sighed, "we never had a chance." They hadn't been very long together, before Kyle had disappeared, but they had clearly developed feelings for each other in this short time.

She eventually stated, "I should go now. It's late, and Charley is probably waiting for me." She had told Kyle about Charley Dixon, her husband, because somehow, she found that he had the right to know how her life had progressed since his sudden disappearance. "I'll just say goodbye to Cameron and John." There was a pause before she apprised him, "You should be wary of an agent named Robert Kester. He paid me a visit yesterday, and I think he's _dangerous_."

"Okay, I'll be careful," he promised. "Thank you...for everything, I mean. Without you, Dana would be dead by now." He held out his callused hand that, Allison remembered, had touched her so surprisingly tenderly in a warm spring night almost a decade ago. "Well, bye then."

She looked at this hand hesitately, before she finally threw her arms around him. At first, Kyle wasn't quite sure how to react, but in the end, he pulled her close. His voice was hoarse when he whispered, "I'm sorry about this all."

"I missed you, Kyle" Allison confessed as she let go of him, giving him a weak and sad smile.

"I missed you too," he responded, sighing heavily. "I wish it would have been otherwise. I really do."

Allison spoke under her breath, "So do I." Then she swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "I'll go to John and Cameron now. So, bye." She turned away and slowly made her way upstairs to the Reese kids' rooms, while Kyle watched her wistfully. But then she turned around one last time and said, "There's a storm coming." He wasn't sure what she meant, yet he nodded.

At first, Allison headed for John's, knocking softly at the door. "It's me." After his permission, she opened the door and stepped in, greeting him, "Hey John. I wanted to say goodbye."

He was sitting at his computer, but he stood up as she came in. "Oh, um... Bye." He scratched his neck and said, "Listen, I'm s that I showed up at your house all of a sudden. I shouldn't have."

"The first or the second time?" Allison asked chuckling.

John couldn't help but a laugh a little. "Both. That was rude. But I didn't know what else to do."

"You did the right thing," she assured him. "At least the second time. Your aunt would have died otherwise." She folded her arms and smirked. "However, the first time was indeed a bit rude. I was pretty shocked to see you standing in my kitchen suddenly. You know, you could have talked to me, instead of running away."

"I was as shocked as you were," John laughed. "But the next time, I promise that I'll try to verbalize my thoughts." There was an awkward pause before he added, "Provided that we'll meet again..."

Allison smiled and answered, "I'm pretty sure we will." And then she did something that John hated commonly. She roughed up his hair. But surprisingly, he didn't mind this time. "So long, John!" Afterward, she left him alone and John went back to his computer.

Allison walked to Cameron's door, while she heard somebody turning on the shower, and guessed that it was Sarah. A showering robot, she thought. If that wasn't bizarre, Allison didn't know. Yet she simply shook her head and knocked at the door to Cameron's room. She waited until the girl granted permission for her to come in. But as soon as she entered the room, she saw that Cameron was dirty again. The result of the hug between her and the terminator. "Hey, Cam. Am I intruding?"

"Hey," Cameron greeted her, closing the wardrobe with fresh clothes in her hand. "No, you're not. I just wanted to take a shower. What's up?"

Noting the girl's sudden good mood, Allison remarked casually, "I thought you already showered." However, she shrugged and didn't wait for an answer but told her, "Well, I'm gonna go now. My work here's done."

Cameron's smile faded a bit as she heard that. "Oh, okay." She cleared her throat before she continued, "Will... will we see each other again?"

"C'mon," Allison snorted smiling. "What do you think? Of course we will." Then she spread out her arms and ordered her playfully, "And now give me a hug." Laughing, Cameron did as she was told. Allison was very fond of Kyle's daughter, and that was why she faced her again, once they had parted and Allison was standing at the door, ready to leave. "Cam," she said hesitately, "how... how much to you like Sarah?"

Not really sure what to think of Allison's question, Cameron replied, "I don't hate her like dad does. If that's what you mean."

Allison shook her head. "No. I mean, how much do you _like_ her?" She noted how uncomfortable the girl seemed to feel at her question, and she decided to declare her suspicion, "Do you have any feelings for her?"

"What?", Cameron shouted, her voicing reaching a high pitch. "What makes you think that I'd have..._feelings_ for Sarah?" She began to wave her hands around. "She's my protector. She has saved my life more than once already, and I'm afraid that she'll have to do it over and over again. So I'm sorry to disappoint you and my dad, but I don't hate Sarah. I just _can't_ hate somebody who risks to get damaged or even destroyed at the attempt to protect me and who's there for me if I need her." She didn't know that Allison took her 'little' outburst as comfirmation to her apprehension.

"Cam," Allison said softly, trying to calm the girl down, "keep your hair on. I only..."

But before Allison could finish her sentence, Cameron interrupted her, "I don't have feelings for Sarah. I admit that I like her. But that's it." She took a deep breath and added, "I've got no idea why you think that there's more behind it. Seriously. But it's nonsense. Firstly, Sarah's a woman and secondly, she's supposed to look like a woman who is about thirty years old. So she's double my age."

Allison sighed and reminded her, "And what about the female teacher of yours you had a crush on in 1999?" Cameron had told her that so many years ago. Yet, she still remembered, because she was the only one Cam had commited this to. That had meant a lot to her.

"My God," the girl sighed dramatically. "As you said, it was a _crush_. Everybody has chrushes. They don't mean anything."

"Just don't fall," Allison warned her. "Neither for her tricks, nor for her." She turned around and opended the door. "She's a machine after all. A very scary robot." And then she was gone, and Cameron feverishly pondered how much she really _liked_ Sarah.

Near Sarah, Cameron felt good and secure, warm. It was nice to talk to her, for she was understanding yet reasonably. Fine, she had been pretty mean to her only just, but it had been the first time, and she had apologized almost instantly, promising never to do so again, and Cam believed her. Moreover, of all three hugs she had received today, had Sarah's comforted her the most, even more than John's had.

Probably because she had wanted to comfort him too, whereas Sarah hadn't needed any comfort. That was another good thing; she could lean on her, without the pressure to appear strong in front of her. She could simply relax in her arms, letting herself go for once. Sarah meant support to her, and nothing more than that.

When Allison was gone and peace came into the Reese household finally, about half an hour passed, before Kyle had a serious discussion with John and Cameron. Their mother Kate had died just two years after their birth, and understandably, they desired to learn more about her. Now was Dana, their mom's sister, their aunt, the perfect source of information. Kyle, however, forbade them to reveal their lineage to Dana since he distrusted her. "She's a stranger," citing this as his reason.

"But Dad," Cameron argued, "that's unfair." Her brother bowed assent and said, somehow reproachfully, "You barely talk of Mom, and now that we've found someone who can tell us something about her, you don't allow us to speak with Dana."

Trying to ignore the flash of guilt that washed over him at his son's accusation, Kyle answered, "I know you're angry about it, but don't forget that future John and future Cameron have _not _told her that her sister is your mother."

For now, they gave in to him. But Dana later recovered from her wounds and woke up. Luckily, Cameron and John, who had watched over their aunt, were there as she did, so they could calm her down when she was confronted with her injury and the pain, demanding what the hell had happened. The Reese girl tried to reassure her by lying a hand on her arm and then explained, "You were shot, but we fetched a doctor... Well, it was nurse, a very good one, though. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll be okay."

Dana relaxed a bit at her soothing voice, and suddenly, she realized how young these Reese siblings still were. There was no constant tense poise at them, as if they were expecting an attack or a murder attempt any minute. There was no weariness in Cameron Reese's eyes like there had been in the last few years of her life. And there was no scar running across John Reese's face. There were just two teenagers, looking down at her in genuine concern.

"You know who I am by now?" Dana asked, remembering Cameron's dressing-down when she had told her that she had no idea who she was, but that she should shut up and stop interfiring.

They nodded, and John replied, "You're Dana Brewster." He made a pause, before he added, "You're not the first Brewster who had been sent back to us, you know. There was another woman. Her name was Katherine Brewster..." He stopped at the hidden, but painful nudge Cameron gave him.

"Yeah," Dana breathed out softly. "She was my sister. She's dead?" It was a question, yet it sounded more like a statement.

Once more, they nodded in unison, sadly now. "She had come back in time to protect us and our father and died doing so," John lied, exchanging a sorrowful look with his sister. He bit his bottom lip thoughtfully. But eventually, he couldn't hold himself back and swallowed audibly hard, finally saying, "Dana, your...your sister, Kate, she was..."

Cameron knew that her brother was about to reveal that Kate was their mother. Yet, she quickly interrupted him, just as Kyle entered the kitchen, "A heroine. She was a heroine."

The older Brewster looked up at the girl and smiled at her words, a little bit of peace for her wounded soul.

_Dana burst through the door of Andrea Goode's hotel room. Startled, Andrea backed away from the gatecrasher and demanded, "Who are you? What do you want here?"_

_Without giving an answer, Dana produced her gun and shot Andrea through the head. She was dead before her body hit the ground. Then Dana fled._

_"So much danger is hidden behind masks. Parents tell their children of good and evil when knowing it's not that simple. True evil doesn't give us time to fight or be afraid. We keep our heads down never bothering to look behind the masks. And in doing so, we resign ourselves to fates we can never see coming."_


	8. Episode 8

Hello everybody,

here's another Chapter of T:TCRC, and you have to admit that it's a long one. So please, leave me a review, because even though I love writing, I love it even more, if I get to know what you think about my writing. :-)

_Dani: _Thanks for reading and reviewing. I think Sarah/Lena would have made a good terminator, but of course, Cameron/Summer was a great one.^^

**_Episode 8; The hidden Language of the Heart played with the Hands of One of the Demons_**

_"They say that when a person dies the soul lives on. The soul, the thing that separates us from the machines. Sarah had burned the metal monster. Two thousand degrees. I suppose they did the same to Andrea. There was nothing left of either. Nothing that told the story of who or what they were. Gone is gone. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, when I go bury me in the earth. Part of me died years ago with Mom, but a part of her lives on in John and I. If that's not a soul, I don't know what is."_

Three days had passed since Dana Brewster, Katherine Brewster's sister, and John and Cameron's maternal aunt, had been shot by a Triple-Eight. She had almost died, but Allison Young, a nurse, and the former girlfriend of Kyle, had been able to stabalize her. By now, Dana was still very weak, and slept most of the time, but she would be alright soon again. The Reeses had decided that she could stay with them, if she wanted to. And Dana had agreed, as long as the 'metal bitch' would keep out of her sight.

Sarah wasn't quite sure, why the Resistance fighter hated her that much. She could simply guess that it was so, because she had killed a friend of hers, Lena Heady, the woman she was the replacement of. After all, that was what Dana had shouted, when she had tried to destroy her at the base back then. Unfortunately, she couldn't remember the most of the things that had happened before she had been reprogrammed, for future Cameron had scrubbed her memory. The terminator, however, didn't like Dana either, so she avoided her with zest.

It was the early morning of a Thursday at the time when Kyle was doing his daily chin-ups on the old swing set. Except for Sarah, who was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, he was the only one awake. Without anybody else around, Kyle could enjoy the silence, and watching the beautiful, rising sun, pretending that Judgement Day was nothing but the content of a simple nightmare he had had.

Once Sarah had finished her task, she opened a drawer, and took out a pencil. While she had placed the cereals, the bowls, the spoons, the cups, and also the bread rolls, the butter, the jelly, the knives, and the plates on the kitchen table, she had briefly observed him through the window, noticing that he seemed to be even more tense than usual. She thought that she could help him, and maybe ease the tension between them a bit.

She went outside to him, causing Kyle to stop his workout, and looking at her suspiciously. By furrowing his brow, he disclosed his confusion when Sarah held out a pencil to him, and told him, "You should write a note for Andrea, if you cannot cry." She waited patiently for his next move, and was glad to see that he actually took the pencil, studying it for a few seconds.

However, Kyle broke the pencil in two pieces, glaring at her, thrusted it back into Sarah's hand, and walked into the house. He certainly didn't need any tips for grieving from a robot. But inside the house, Cameron, who had just come into the kitchen, and was now sitting at the table, looked at him reproachfully. "Mornin' Cam," he greeted her casually, reaching for the coffee pot, and his favorite coffee mug, ignoring his daughter's look.

"Morning Dad," she replied coolly, sipping at her own coffee, before she said, "That was pretty mean of you to do, you know." She had watched the whole encounter through the kitchen window, and of course, she disapproved of her father's behavior. "She just tried to be nice."

Kyle, tired of his daughter's sympathy for the Tin-Lady, groaned in pure frustration, then growled, "Stop defending her all the time. She has no feelings, I could hurt. No soul." He made a short pause, in which Cameron appeared to want to say something, but he prevented her from doing so by adding, "And you know what? I really don't like to see my daughter, growing fond of a machine. Because that's what she is, Cam. A _machine_." He didn't wait for a respond, but left the kitchen, heading for the bathroom to take a shower.

Cameron sighed deeply, before she focused on her cereals again. Still chewing, she looked up when she heard the front door being opened and closed again, and Sarah entered the kitchen a few seconds later. She quickly swallowed the bite, and greeted smiling, "Morning, Sarah."

Sarah smiled back at her, and answered, "Good morning, Cam." She put the the two pieces of the broken pencil down, before she joined Cameron at the kitchen table, sitting opposite her. The Reese girl made a face, looking at the remains of the pencil. Yet, she decided not to comment on it, but said, "Thanks for preparing breakfast. God knows that I'm not in the mood to do that right now."

"I would have made some pancakes," Sarah replied. "However, you all just eat them on Sundays, and you have to make them." She tilted her head, smirking. "You once told me that this was your family-ritual." Cameron listened carefully, while she shoved another spoon of cereals into her mouth. "Whatever," the raven-haired stated. "Did you sleep well?"

Nodding her head, Cameron swallowed, and returned, "Yes, very well." She grinned. "I would ask you the same question, but since you don't sleep..." Then she frowned all of a sudden, and asked curiously, "What are you doing all night long anyway?"

"Well," Sarah started, leaning back in her chair, "either I watch TV, or I read, or I surf on the internet. And in between, I do my rounds, checking if everything's still alright." There was a short pause, before she spoke on, "But over the last few nights, I'm contriving a plan of how to get back the T-888's arm. It is important to destroy it. Otherwise, things will get... problematically. And somehow, I do think that things are problematic enough already." She smirked, nevertheless was she serious.

"True," Cameron agreed with her. Then she took her empty bowl with the spoon in it, stood up, and placed it in the sink. Before she sat back down, her eyes fell on the broken pencil on the kitchen counter. When she was sitting again, she rolled her eyes in defeat, and surrendered to her bad conscience. Finally, she apologized, "I'm sorry, Sarah."

The raven-haired looked rather confused at her as she questioned, "For what?"

"For my dad's behavior," the Reese girl explained, pointing at the pencil with her chin. "He's pretty mean to you. I would apologize for him every time he's so, but if I'd do that I'd aplogize around the clock."

Sarah couldn't help, but smile at Cameron's sorrow, and told her reassuringly, "Please don't worry, Cam. It's alright." She kept on smiling, yet she seemed a little sad. "I'm used to it. After all, most humans treated me like this in 2027. Some of them did even worse." Sighing softly, she added, "Your father didn't try to shot me yet. So you could say that he's almost friendly to me."

"They did, because you tried to kill John and I," concluded sadly. "But despite that, we decided to give you a second chance." Running her fingers through her hair, she admitted, "I can imagine the Resistance fighters weren't pleased at all with the fact that one of their bitter enemies became one of the them." She made a pause, then asked, "I guess they were pretty angry at us for sparing you?"

For half a minute, Sarah seemed to wallow in memories, before she comfirmed, "You're right. As good as everybody disapproved of your decision, although quite a few later found that it wasn't such a bad idea to reprogramme terminators." She took a deep breath, before she continued, "The problem was just that some of them went bad again for no clear reason. You presumed that some people, who still hated terminators, were responsible for it, because they wanted to show that we're dangerous after all. They probably thought that so they could get rid of us." Cameron simply listened to Sarah, nodding thoughtfully once in a while. "But," Sarah said slowly, "they hated the way you and your brother treated me. Especially the way you did."

Now, Cameron couldn't hold her curiousity back, and asked, "How did I treat you?" The Reese girl still wondered how close Sarah and she were in the future, and so she used every opportunity to obtain more information about their relationship. She told herself that it was simple curiousity about the future, and _not _because she wanted to hear that there was more than friendship going on between them.

Sarah put on a smile, and chuckled, "That's a needless question, Cameron." Still grinning slightly, she explained, "While John saw only an experiment in me, you saw kind of a person in me. You wanted to know, if I was able to be self-aware, and if I was able to feel, not just physically, but also emotionally. You talked to me like you would have talked to any other normal person made out of flesh and blood. You were my mentor, teaching me to be everything that I am today."

Cameron sensed that there was still more to it than Sarah had just told her. She summed up the raven-haired's speech, "In other words, I treated you good, right?"

"Maybe even too good," Sarah spoke under her breath. And with that, she gave Cameron more to brood over. Leaning closer to the terminator, she wanted to know, "What exactly do you mean with '_too_'?"

Sarah sighed at her own mistake, thinking that it was probably the best, if she would completely stop talking about the future. "Cam," she pleaded, "please don't start with _that _all over again. There are some things I _mustn't _tell you."

Rolling her eyes, Cameron gave up, and shrugged. "As I said, I will find out about the future anyway."

"And as I said, not if I can avert it," Sarah reminded her at their conversation three days ago. And the Reese girl was still confused, worried, and a bit distraught about the terminator's words, for she knew that Sarah didn't mean Skynet and Judgement Day.

"I wish I knew what you're talking about," Cameron whispered, turning her head away, looking out of the window. But she gasped softly when Sarah cupped her cheek and gently forced her to look at her, right into these sparkling, jade-green eyes.

The terminator said, "Maybe I will tell you some day, but surely not yet." And Cameron couldn't help leaning into the soft, warm touch. Her eyes were half-closed, and her breathing was calm and regular. She was completely relaxed at this sudden moment of intimicy. However, this moment stopped instantly when Sarah withdraw her hand quickly, as if she had been burnt.

With a look that was almost guilty, Sarah stood up, and declared, "I have to go now. Your father and John will come down in the few minutes. Besides, I have to think about of how to get back the Triple-Eight's arm." And then she left the kitchen, without another word, while Cameron could only ponder over what had just happened.

The following night, Sarah dismounted a motorcycle, disguising as a police officer. She had made up a plan eventually, and at first, she needed a diversion. That was why she broke into a power plant, where she identified the turbine that was the primary source of electricity to Los Angeles, and destroyed it with her bare hands. A few flaps of skin and flesh were torn down, exposing some shining, bloody metal, but the result was a wanted city-wide blackout.

Afterward, she left the building, heading back to the motorcycle that she leaped onto. She put on the helmet, started the engine, throttling the machine once, then placed her police boots on the controls, and moved into gear. With her night-vision mode, it was easy for Sarah to maneuver through all the standing cars in the dark, ignoring the honking, the shouting, and the swearing.

She went to the Central Los Angeles Department, and the panic in the aftermath of the blackout alllowed her to walk through the station totally undetected. Sarah punched open the door to the evidence storage. There she found an evidence box, and a corresponding sign-out log book. The last name on the list was agent Ellison's. She looked through the box, and found nothing. She snorted softly, knowing that for this night, she had failed her mission.

Quite dissatisfied with the outcome, Sarah headed back home, behind her the first rays of sunshine. She took of her helmet, and entered the house afterward, walking straight into the kitchen, because she had caught sight of Kyle through the window. When she set foot in the kitchen, she saw that Cameron was sitting at the table. Both, father and daughter, looked pretty dumbfounded at her, and Kyle finally remarked, "And somewhere in the city, a naked cop bleeds in an alley." And the Reese girl couldn't help smirking.

"He's pretty much naked," Sarah stated matter-of-factly, "but he's not bleeding." Tilting her head, she informed them, "The hand. Couldn't acquire it."

Kyle frowned, and demanded harshly, "Why not?" The answer to his question was an unaffected 'The FBI has it.', causing him to swear softly. For Kyle Reese, the FBI was everything, but helpful. It was was a pain in the ass, to be honest. He turned to Cameron, and stated, "You and John are playing hooky."

"Today?" Cameron shook her head fiercely. "No, I can't miss class today, Dad. And neither can John, even though he would love to."

"We have to find the hand," her father declared, slightly annoyed by his daughter's ignorance. It was very important to get that damn thing back, and to get rid of it. "Destroy it. No loose ends. Cyberdine built Skynet."

Rolling her eyes, Cameron argued, "With the chip. Remember?"

"And the hand," Sarah tossed in.

Cameron groaned, fighting the urge to rub the bridge of her nose. "Look, the Feds have it now, Dad. I can't help." She paused a few seconds, before she reminded her father, "Besides, absent gets John and I on the radar."

And right on the cue, John came down the stairs, entering the kitchen. "Mornin' everybody," he greeted a bit fuzzy, passing by Sarah without looking at her. He collapsed into the chair next to his sister, reaching for the cereals and the milk carton. But then he looked up briefly, raising an eyebrow, and asked, "Can somebody tell me why Sarah's dessed like a police officer? And where she got the uniform from? And what's going on here? And... May I go back to bed please?"

Kyle massaged his temples a few seconds, before he turned to Sarah, and ordered her, "Find Dmitri. Dana says he has a sister, gives piano lessons. Start with her." He looked intensively at her. "Low profile, _no _guns."

Sarah nodded, and turned to leave while wearing her police uniform, when Kyle sighed, "You might want to change." The terminator turned around on her heel, making her way upstairs to her room to change. In the kitchen, Kyle shook his head, John ate his breakfast in silence, and Cameron couldn't stop grinning.

Two hours later, Kyle walked through a crypt, and stopped at the headstone of Andrea Goode. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He blamed himself for her death, for he hadn't been there to protect her. But he promised her, and himself, that he would find her murderer, and then he would take revenge.

When he got back home, he decided to look after Dana, who had her own room by now. He knocked quite loudly at the door, and after some seconds, a damped voice answered him, "Come on in." Kyle then did so, spotting his deceased wife's sister lying in the bed, and said, "Morning." He paused, before he asked, "How are you?"

"Mornin'," Dana replied groggy. "I'm fine. More or less at least. Thanks." Sighing heavily at first, she demanded then, "The Triple-Eight?"

Kyle put on a smirk, and responded pleased, "Vaporized."

"The Russian, Dmitri?" she asked afterward. "You found him?"

This time, Kyle didn't smirk, but frowned and shook his head, while he explained, "He took off after Andrea's murder." The image of a dead Andrea Goode's appeared in his mind's eye. He dreamt about it, along with Skynet, Judgement Day, and in his shot dead kids.

Dana sighed, rubbing the spot over her bullet wound. "Now if he has the Turk..." She trailed off, but then went on, "Put the machine on it. She'll find him. It's a..."

"I know," Kyle interrupted her. "It's what they do."

A little later, Sarah was in the music school, in which Dmitri's sister, Maria Shipkov, gave piano lessons. They were alone in a big, well-lit room, and a couple of different instruments were standing around, just like a guitar, an electric-guitar with an an amplifier, a saxophon, drums, a piano, and a beautiful, black grand piano that was shining brightly in the light. "Will you show me?" Sarah requested the brunet Russian.

"You're a beginner, ya?" Maria inquired. However, she was rather surprised when the other woman sat down at the piano, and started playing a simple melody. Sarah had once watched a man on TV, who had played this melody. She didn't know how to read music, and to tinkle the ivories, but only recalled the movements of his fingers. Maria nodded her approval, though. "You have taken lessons before?"

Sarah shook her head, and Maria raised an irritated eyebrow. "Your playing is nice. Perfect fingers, but they're a little...mechanical, ya? Remember, you are a river."

"I'm a river?" Sarah tilted her head quizzically, not really understanding why she was a river now. Yet, she decided to ask Cameron later, but then Maria explained, "Yes, you have to flow over the piano keys." Afterward, she said, "Come next week. We need to develop your flexibility and your...imagination. Remember, music is the hidden language of the heart, ya?"

Sarah was just about to stand up, as a Russian man showed up all of a sudden. He made a beeline for Maria, who backed away from him. Because of her reaction, and his outfit, Sarah assumed that he was a gangster. Moreover, he demanded in Russian, "You owe me money."

The terminator listened to the conversation, since she could speak Russian, just as any other language.

Meanwhile, Kyle called the FBI, and disguised himself as an evidence clerk, inquiring about the 'robot-hand' that was found at the crime scene a few days ago. The man, who was at the other end of the phone, turned away briefly. But Kyle could hear him asking agent Ellison where the hand was. However, Ellison claimed not to have it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you," then man apologized, before he hung up.

Later, at his home, Ellison watched old footage of Kyle during his stay at Pescadero State Hospital, and his words about machines on the tape clicked in Ellison's head. He went into the kitchen, where he opended the freezer, and took out the T-888's hand in a bag. He studied it for several minutes, wondering if Reese had indeed spoken the truth, and was not just a simple psycho, who had lost his wife and was blowing up computer factories.

He thought about the only way of how to receive information, and he visited Pescadero on the same night. He was shown Kyle's cell by one of the doctors, having no idea of how Reese had managed to get free of this bonds that had chained him to his bed. For the first time ever, Ellison didn't see the crazy man in Kyle Reese, but a poor victim of this institut, being caged all the time like an animal in the zoo.

Ellison faced the doctor, and asked him, "Are there any people, who worked in the hospital at that time that I can talk to?"

"Well," the doctor replied slowly, shifting from one foot to the other, "I guess, there's only one person that can help you." He seemed rather uncomfortable. "And that would be doctor Silberman. He's living in the mountains, and nobody has been in contact with him. I don't know what happened on the night of Kyle Reese's escape, but it changed him forever."

The agent nodded. "Thanks a lot. You may not know it, but your help is beyond price."

And Ellison didn't knew that Reese broke into his house, while he was saying these words. Kyle was looking for the T-888 hand, for he was sure that Ellison was having it. He searched in every room, every drawer, and wardrobe. He didn't found the hand, though. He swore softly, but then found that Ellison had been examining a video of his stay at Pescadero. A place that Kyle connected to many horrible memories. "Son of a bitch," Kyle hissed, before he grabbed one of the videos, and left.

John and Cameron at the meantime, wanted to look after Dana, and finally found her cleaning their arsenal of weapons on the floor of their father's room. Frowning, John leaned over to whisper in his sister's ear, "Is it just me, or do you also find this kind of disturbing?"

"Um..." Cameron didn't answer him, but her hesitant sound was enough for him to know that she agreed with him. Instead, she stepped a little closer to her aunt, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Dana looked up briefly, snarling, "What's it look like?"

"Looks like your're loading guns that I know for a fact are already loaded," John, whose protective instinct came to the surface, snapped back, placing himself between Dana and his sister. Cameron, on the other hand, was a little annoyed by her brother's behavior, even though it was quite 'sweet' of him to act like this.

"True enough," Dana replied, putting a 9mm pistol aside. While she reached for another gun, a 45mm pistol this time, John affirmed proudly, "I loaded them."

The black-haired took the pistol, and dropped out the magazine, before she put it back in again. She made a short pause, however, to tell him, "Look... no offense, I just don't like firing a weapon I didn't set myself." Afterward, she resumed her activity.

"Anyway," the Reese girl intervened sighing, "you should take it into the kitchen or something. Dad wouldn't like you doing this in his room." Cameron got a pretty puzzled look from her aunt, who wondered, "Why?"

Both Reeses frowned at this, surprised at this question. "Because it's his room," John replied, raising an astonished eyebrow.

Reaching for a M16A2 5.56mm rifle, Dana shrugged, and then completely changed the topic by demanding, "Listen, um... the nurse that patched me up. Where did she come from?" The Resistance fighter found that, now that she was a member of the Reese-team, she had the right to be filled in about all the ongoing events. After all, she could only help, if she was up to date.

"That's Allison," the Reese boy told her casually. "She was dad's girlfriend. Long time, though." He let out a deep breath, looking at the floor, while his sister licked her lips and remained silent.

Brushing aside the sibling's misery, Dana stated matter-of-factly, "She's liability." Dana Brewster wasn't cold-hearted per se, but in the time after Judgement Day, she had learned to trust nobody, and to eliminate every potential threat. In her opinion, this Allison was such a threat, even if she had saved Dana's life.

John stiffened instantly at her words and quickly declared, "Look, she's not going to tell anybody."

Dana looked him straight in the eye. "How do you know?" the black-haired asked him, clearly doubtful.

"Because we know her," Cameron said firmly. "We trust her." The girl was a bit angry at Allison, she granted, because she had spoken slightly of Sarah, and because of her preposterous allegation that she would have any feelings for the terminator. However, she would _never_ allow Dana to do what she was thinking about.

The black-haired frowned at them and muttered, "Can't believe you trust anybody." These Reese siblings were indeed a lot more different to the ones she knew.

Cameron couldn't stop herself from scoffing, "Maybe it's just her."

"You trust the machine," Dana then sighed. Her voice was almost ruefully, as if she pitied them for it. The woman had found that these Reese siblings were a lot more different to the ones she knew. But in this case, they weren't different to the future ones at all. They trusted machines, the enemies. And while John Reese was fascinated by these metal devils with red-hot eyes, Cameron Reese had even considered one of them as close friend until her death. The one that Dana hated the most of all things.

"Sarah...," the Reese girl stressed, suppressing the urge to glare at her own aunt.

Dana pursed her lips, before she grumbled, "Yeah... Sarah. What a joke." She shook her head, and hissed, "Walking around with a name. Like it's a person." Then she looked intensively at them. "It's not something you should be trusting."

Cameron was about to answer Dana, but Kyle suddenly startled her and John by demanding, "What's going on?" They turned around quickly, directly staring into the unhappy face of their father, who was wondering why everybody was in _his_ bedroom.

"Nothing," John said innocently, and Cameron nodded.

Kyle didn't believe his son, but he just shook his head, before he ordered him, "I need you to get on the computer and find an address."

John nodded, grabbed his sister by the upper arm, and dragged her with him. When they were gone, Kyle looked down at Dana and all the weapons next to her, unsure of what to say about this strange picture.

"You're making a mistake," Dana then warned him all of a sudden. In response to her words, he groaned softly, and asked, "How's that?"

Dana blinked, licking her dry lips. "The machine has to go."

"This morning you had me sending her out to do our dirty work," Kyle reminded her, amazed at the fact that Dana hated Sarah even more than he did. The woman hated her hell of a lot more than he did, to be exact.

"Dirty work is all they're good for!" the black-haired hissed. "Don't let yourself think that you can train them like a pet. Because it will be the last thing you think."

Kyle snorted angrily. "John and Cameron..."

"They don't know everything," Dana interrupted her.

"You should be resting," Kyle then finally said, signalizing that for him the conversation was over. But Dana, however, shrugged him off, and replied, "They never rest."

Meanwhile, John was in the kitchen, for he wanted to get himself a soda, before he would look for the address his father wanted. But just as he was about to leave the kitchen, he laid eyes on Kyle's bag that was lying on the kitchen table. A tape sticked out of it. He was too curious to simply go away, and so he took it into his room. There he slid the tape into his VCR, putting on his headphones.

Within moments, he had tears in his eyes.

About one hour later, Sarah came through the front door, heading for the kitchen automatically. He had to talk with Kyle, assuming that he was in there, but she only found Cameron, who was making herself a sandwich. "Hey Sarah," she greeted smiling. "Where have you been?"

"At a music school," the terminator answered, causing Cameron to raise a suspicious eyebrow at her. Sarah would have liked to talk with the Reese girl, explaining to her why she had been at the music school and what she had done there. But at first, she had to give Kyle a situation report. That was why she asked, "Do you know where your father is, Cam?"

Grabbing two slices of toast, Cameron shrugged. "In his room, I guess."

"Thank you," Sarah said and smiled briefly at her, before she turned around, ready to leave the kitchen. However, the raven-haired stopped dead in her tracks and faced Cameron once again when ladder called quickly, "Sarah?"

Looking quizzically, the terminator tilted her head, waiting for the girl to keep on talking. Yet, Cameron just shook her head, and said, "Never mind. You should go and see Dad." Sarah couldn't help frowning.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, until Sarah nodded slowly. "Yes. See you later."

Cameron watched the raven-haired leaving, and sighed heavily, once she was out of sight and earshot. She desperately wanted to talk with her about what had happened between them three days ago, asking why she had jumped to her feet and had run off practically. But now was an inconvenient time evidently, and Cameron decided to question Sarah another time.

One floor above, the terminator reported Kyle, "I'm following up on Dmitri and the Turk." She told him of the gangster, who wanted money from him and Maria, and that she would stay tuned to it.

"Good job," he praised for the first time ever. "I'll look after the Triple-Eight's hand, while you focus on the Turk. I already have a hunch of who might have it." When he was talking to Dana, just five minutes later, he told her, "I'm pretty sure agent Ellison has it. Moreover, I think he knows what's going on."

At the same time, Sarah went downstairs into the living room, where she found Cameron sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating her sandwich. She walked over to her and let herself fall onto the couch next to Cameron, who was surprised at the sudden tremor of the item of furniture that was caused by the terminator's heavy weight. "You did that on purpose, am I right?" Cameron accused the grinning raven-haired. "Anyway, I thought you had to talk to my dad."

"I already did," Sarah replied, while Cameron took a bite of her sandwich. "It was not much information, but it was important." She then asked casually, "What are you watching?"

Cameron swallowed the bite at first, and answered afterward, "Just some advertising at the moment, but the movie 'The Pianist' starts in a few minutes." She made a short pause, before she suggested, "If you don't have anything better to do, you could bear me company and watch it with me. John's busy with finding an address for Dad, who, on the other hand, is busy with... I don't know, and Dana's still resting." She frowned, then added, "Or maybe she's busy with sitting on the floor and reloading every weapon in the house."

Sarah gave her a blank look, not being fond of the idea of a heavily armed technophobe. "I think it is a good thing that you don't sleep," Cameron pondered. "Because she hates you. And not like Dad does, but she _really_ hates you. You should be careful..." Half of her words were meant as a joke. However, the girl was indeed a bit worried about the terminator. "Is there any particular reason why she hates you _that _much? Or do most Resistance fighters treat you like this? I mean, you told me that some of them wanted to shoot you."

"Very few," Sarah answered. Faltering, she started to explain, "Do you remember when I told you that I was actually built by Skynet as the replacement of a woman, another member of the Resistance to infiltrate your and John's base?" Cameron nodded, and the raven-haired continued, "Well, I...I killed her, and apparently she was a friend of Dana Brewster. So your aunt wants to wreak revenge on me, I guess. I don't know if there's anything else, because you scrubbed my memory."

Somehow, Sarah expected that Cameron would now tell her to leave, and looked at the floor sadly. However, the Reese girl inhaled deeply and assured her instead, "That's a pretty ugly affair, _but_ it was in your past. Before you joined the Resistance. Don't blame yourself for something you were programmed to do. You had no control over yourself." She gently touched Sarah's sagging shoulder. "And I'm not mad at you, if that's bothering you, too."

"Really?" the terminator asked, looking disbelievingly at Cameron. Ladder nodded and laughed softly. "Hey, I wasn't mad at you when you told me that you tried to kill John and I, so I'm not mad now either. Let's watch the movie now, okay?"

And right at that very moment, it started. Monochrome shots were shown, while piano music was being played in the background, before the picture became colored, and the protagonist came on the scene. He was the one, who was playing the piano at a radio station. But he had to stopp, because the building was rocked by explosions by German bombing. "Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor," Sarah whispered, lost in reverie.

"Hmm...what?" Cameron inquired, leaning in the terminator's direction. "What did you say?"

"The piano piece," Sarah explained. "That was Nocturne No. 20, Op. Posth. in C-sharp minor, composed by Frédéric Chopin in the year 1830 for solo piano. It was dedicated to his older sister named Ludwika Chopin. First published 26 years after the composer's death. The piece is also known as 'Op. P 1 No.', "KKIVa/16, CT.127', by its tempo marking of _Lento con espressione _or the popular appellation Reminiscene."

Staring wildly at the raven-haired sitting next to her, Cameron stammered, "Excuse my French, but...what the fuck was that?!"

"I don't know," the terminator replied honestly. "I really don't. Though, I remember the music." She tilted her head. "It's possible that it is connected with an old, forgotten memory that was important to me."

Cameron noticed that Sarah seemed rather distraught about this, since she had an absent look, yet frowned continuously. "Hey Sarah, are you alright?" she asked, putting the sandwich down and placing her hand on the terminator's upper arm, rubbing in gently. She felt the tremors that were running through Sarah's body. "Sarah?" she said her protector's name once again, keeping her voice low and soothing. To be honest, Cameron was more than just a little anxious about her, seriously pondering over if a terminator could get a short circuit.

"I'm fine," Sarah reassured the girl, shaking her head and closing her eyes briefly. Obviously, she was speaking the truth, for Cameron couldn't feel anymore tremors. The raven-haired took a deep breath, even if she wouldn't have needed it. "I'm sorry. The music must have triggered something strange in my brain, sending erroneus data through my whole body."

"You don't have to apologize," Cameron soothed her. "As long as you're fine, everything is good." She hesitated a few seconds. "You are really fine, aren't you?" Sarah nodded, smiling weakly. "You're absolutely sure?" Once more, Sarah nodded, and confirmed, "If you mean that no message is poping up in my view, telling me to terminate you, then yes, I am fine."

Afterward, Cameron also nodded slowly, giving her a samll, relieved grin. "Alright." The girl inhaled deeply, before she said, "Then we should simply continue watching the movie. And we will never, I repeat, _never _tell my dad about what just happened. In the twinkling of an eye, he has a pair of pliers pointed at you."

"Maybe it would be the best, if I'd go now," Sarah opined, sighing heavily. "I think you'd enjoy the movie much more, without a malfunctioning terminator sitting next to you."

Cameron wasn't quite sure, whether the last statement had been some kind of a bad joke or not. But she was damn sure about that she didn't want Sarah to leave. "No," she quickly said, and grinned mischievously under Sarah's surprised look. "You can't go now, because I've already chosen you to be my pillow for this evening."

"Excuse me?" the raven-haired asked irritated. Cameron didn't answer, at least not with words, but simply stretched out on the couch, lying on her back, and rested her head on Sarah's left thigh, turning her head in the direction of the TV. The girl knew that if someone would come downstairs, Sarah would sense him. "Oh, thank you for explaining," Sarah then said, a little taken aback. The terminator knew that she really should have told Cameron not to do this, because it would only make things even more complicated. She remained silent, though, for whatever reason. The only thing she could do, was to place her arm on the backrest and not directly on Cameron's belly.

They continued watching the movie for another half an hour, until Sarah began speaking under her breath, "I'm taking piano lessons at the music school. My teacher is Dmitri Shipkov's sister, Maria Shipkov. Your father thinks that we might find out where the Turk is this way."

Chuckling softly, Cameron turned her head, so that she could look into Sarah's face, after ladder was looking down at her. "Cool," the girl commented. "Do you like to play the piano, or is it just for the mission?"

"I found that I like it," Sarah replied truthfully, causing Cameron to quietly snort in amusement. "Sarah, you are aware of that a piano is standing here in the living room, just a few meters away from you, right?"

In fact, there was indeed a piano, standing on the left side of the room, near a window. "Yes, I am," the terminator answered, briefly looking at the wooden cased musical instrument. The house had already been furnished when they had moved in, included the piano. "But I cannot actually play it. I simply repeat the movements of the pianist I've seen on TV. However, I really want to learn to play it. I want to be a river."

"A river?" came Cameron's confused question. "Look, I have absolutely nothing against you wanting to change the topic, but please do it so that I can make sense of it."

For the first time since their meeting, Cameron heard Sarah laughing, _really _laughing, and not just chuckling. It made her feeling warm all over, yet she didn't know, if the terminator was truly alright. "Why are you laughing? Wait, are you laughing at me?"

"No," the raven-haired _gasped_. "It's just that, when I was playing the piano at the music shool, Maria Shipkov said that my fingers are perfect, but a little 'mechanical'. And that I should remember, I'm a river."

"To tell the truth," Cameron said frowning, "I still don't get it. Why are you a river?"

Sarah smiled, and explained, "Because I have to flow over the piano keys."

Cameron sighed heavily, concentrating her attention on the TV again. "Sounds like a pretty strange woman to me."

"That could be," Sarah agreed. She was silent for a few minutes, before she finally decided to ask Cameron something that seemed somehow important to her. But her voice was low and insecure when she inquired, "Is music really the hidden language of the heart?"

Once again, Cameron turned her head to look at Sarah. She didn't know why the terminator was so talkative all of a sudden. Yet, she would have lied, if she had said that she didn't like it. The contrary was the case. It meant a lot to her that the raven-haired shared her thoughts with her. Earlier, Cameron had wanted to ask her about the encounter between them in the kitchen, but now she decided not to, afraid of destroying the current moment. And she rather appreciated it. "I don't know. Who told you that? Shipkov?"

The terminator nodded, and Cameron said, "I only know that dance is the hidden language of the soul. But if the music is the hidden language of the heart... No idea." She let out a calm breath, before she stated, "It sounds nice, though. So why not?"

"Yeah," Sarah aspirated a sound. "Why not..."

For the rest of the movie, they both remained silent, watching the incredible pictures and listening to beautiful piano music, _and _enjoying each other's closeness. Cameron almost _pressed_ the half of her face into Sarah's warm thigh, while Sarah had to suppress the urge to slide her fingers through some of Cameron's hair. When the movie eventually came to the end, both were reluctant to give up their comfortable position. But they knew that they had to, if they wanted to avoid the situation getting awkward.

So Cameron sat up slowly and stretched herself. "That was an intense movie."

"Definitely," Sarah was with her. "Anyway, you should go to bed now. It's late, and you have school tomorrow."

The Reese girl nodded, fighting back a yawn. "Well, good night then, Sarah."

"Good night, Cam," Sarah replied. "Sleep tight." She watched Cameron going upstairs, knowing that she was failing miserably in keeping the girl at distance. But she was at a loss how to do so, for Cameron was making it hard for the terminator not to want to spend time with her. Just like future Cameron, who had finally perished of their complicated rapport. And Sarah blamed herself for that.

In her room, the Reese girl didn't know about Sarah's thoughts. She took off her clothes, changing into pyjama bottoms and a simple, white tankshirt, before she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she laid down finally, she though about her protector, until she fell asleep.

The next morning, Kyle and Cameron were in the kitchen when John came downstairs. Both, father and daughter, were kind of shocked to see him this early. However, they were really worried because of his behavior.

"Mornin' John," Kyle said to his son, who wordlessly handed him Dr. Silberman's address, before he threw his backpack over one shoulder and hurried out the door.

Cameron and her father exchanged confused glances, and then the girl stood up from the kitchen table, grabbing her own backpack, and followed John. But she gave Kyle a brief kiss on his cheek and promised, "I'll talk to him."

A little later, Kyle, who still wondered about his son, noticed that the stolen tape in his bag was missing, and then he started to have a certain clue. As expected, he found the tape in John's VCR. He didn't know what was on the video, but he guessed nothing good. Kyle pushed it in and watched. On the video, inside Pescadero, a DCFS agent put a document before Kyle. The papers waived all parental rights to John and Cameron. He signed.

Kyle sighed heavily, realizing now why John had acted the way he did this morning. "Shit." He would have to talk to his son.

Meanwhile, Ellison found Dr. Silberman working in his yard. "Good day, Dr. Silberman," he greeted the white-haired man, holding out his had to him. "I'm FBI agent Ellison. Excuse me for interrupting, but I would like to ask you some questions about Kyle Reese, if that's alright with you."

Silberman took his hand, shaking it. "Good day," he replied. "Sure. Please, do come in. I'll brew some tea."

Drinking their cups of tea, the two sat and talked about Silberman's former patient Kyle Reese, and what he had said inside Pescadero. And at first, everything went well, Ellison asked his questions and Silberman answered them. But suddenly, the agent got dizzy and fell to the floor. When he awoke, he found that Silberman had tied him to chair, explaing that he believed that Ellison was from the future and might be a terminator.

Ellison screamed in pain, when Silberman took a small knife and forced it deep into the agent's leg, concluding to Silberman that he was in not a terminator. Afterward, the doctor patched up Ellison's leg, while he apologized, "It's an honest mistake." He shrugged. "Can't be too careful." And Ellison sighed heavily. "Tell me, do you believe in the apocalypse, agent?"

"Yeah...uhm," Ellison tried to reply, ignoring the pain in his bleeding leg. "I read Revelations." He knew that he had to flee somehow, seeing that not Kyle Reese was the spycho, but his erstwhile authorized doctor.

Silberman sat down in a chair across from the agent, and started speculating, "Could it be that the apocalypse in the book and the predictions of Kyle Reese, are one and the same?"

"Um...," Ellison took a deep breath, before he replied, "I suppose it's possible. What do you think?"

"He came down the hall," Silberman said. He had an absent look, seemingly remembering old times. "He was a large man. I thought it was a man, until...he threw the guard through the windown, like a rag doll. Not an ounce of emotion." He paused a few seconds, before he added whispering, "Just blank, like a death mask. Then the other came."

Now, Ellison raised an eyebrow. "There was two of them?"

"Yeah, they were different," the doctor answered. "The second was almost beautiful like perfect...like a changling, the face of Mercury."

"What about Kyle?" Ellison asked, breathing heavily.

Silberman nodded his head. "He was there," he whispered. "He was on the floor. And the boy and the girl were with her, they were screaming." He licked his dry lips. "And then the first one, the big one, I'll never forget. He reached out his hand and he said 'Come with me if you want to live'. The hand of God reaching out to Man, like the Sistine Chapel."

"The hand of God," the agent repeated.

"Hand of God. Yeah." Silberman nodded again. "Well, there's no proof, so we don't talk about it, all of us that were there."

Ellison pondered several moments, before he eventually said, "What if I told you I had proof?"

Five minutes later, Silberman opened the trunk of agent Ellison's car and found the T-888's hand inside a cooler. He stared in awe at it, turning it between his hands to look at the hand from every angle possible. Reese had been right all along, he finally saw. But at the same time, he knew that the hand had to be destroyed. So he went back inside the house, where he, once more, drugged Ellison, who fell senseless then.

Afterward, Silberman went into the garage, where he got a gasoline can to douse his own with, while the FBI agent trapped inside. The doctor left the house taking the Triple-Eight's hand with him. However, as he was about to get into his car, Kyle showed up at the place, intercepting a shocked Silberman.

Kyle grabbed the man, who had dealt so ill with him, at his collar harshly, and punched him into his face, knocking him out. Fighting back the urge to kick Silberman, Kyle took the T-888's hand, ready to leave again. He stopped dead in his tracks, though, when the house began to explode and he heard a scream from inside it.

And a little later, as rain poured on Silberman, who was lying in the grass with a goofy grin on his face, a freed Ellison kicked him away, and demanded, "Give me the hand!"

"Kyle Reese took it," he yelled, then started laughing like a maniac.

Soon after, a rather pleased Ellison watched as guards locked Silberman into a cell in Pascadero. He screamed like a mad man about the apocalypse and the machines, but his cries died down as the agent walked away from the cell, musing over the irony of the situation.

In the meantime, Sarah had returned to the studio. Right this moment, she was watching Maria Shipkov playing the piano from the doorway, deciding that she indeed needed to learn playing. When Maria finally finished, the terminator walked over to her, and used her infiltration skills to engage her in conversation, asking about her brother, seemingly casually. But all of a sudden, the Russian gangster came in once again. He was very angry obviously, and wasted no time on blaring out a threat.

Instead, he approached Dmitri's sister quickly, and was about to grab her fragile neck, when Sarah stopped him by grabbing hold of his jacket. The gangster now looked at her for the first time, while he struggled to get free, and was irritated and frightened, once he realized he couldn't. The raven-haired glared at him for a second, before she kicked him to the ground, knocking him out.

Sarah turned to an astonished Maria, and told her, "Listen, I'm searching for your brother, Dmitri Shipkov." Her expression softened a bit. "I can help you."

At first, Maria was hesitant and unsure, but in the end, she decided that she had no other chance than to trust this Sarah Baum. She took her to her brother's hotel room. The region was pretty dangerous, and the hotel was rundown. So was Shipkov's room.

Yet the terminator didn't really care, but asked Dmitri, who was nervous, even after his sister had tried to assure him that the strange woman was here to help them, "What happened to the Turk? Tell me."

"I won't," he snorted, refusing to answer her question.

Even though Sarah was no ruthless and unethical machine anymore, she briefly thought that the easiest way would have been to _force _him to tell her. However, since the Reese siblings had taken her under their wings, she had developed something like a conscience, and now avoided violence if it was possible. That was why she reached into the inside of her pocket of her coat, and took out a bunch of money. "It's yours, if you tell me what happened to Andrea Goode's Turk."

Shipkov needed the money badly, and so he took it without much hesitating. "A man came and offered me cash for it," he stated. "I sabotaged the Turk by reprogramming it to throw the chess match so that the man could take the damn mchine." While he spoke, he walked over to a desk, taking out a piece of paper from the top drawer. "This is the address of who has the Turk now, or at least who took it.

"Thank you," Sarah said, nodding once and grabbing the paper from Shipkov. She turned to leave, but right then two armed men kicked open the door. They pointed their guns at Dmitri and Maria Shipkov, who both started pleading and shouting. The terminator, who remembered her promise to help, knew that _this time_ she had no other option than to kill them. It took her six seconds, before the two gangsters were lying on the floor, their necks snapped. Then Sarah left, closely watched by the shocked Shipkov siblings.

At the Reese's house, Cameron was in Dana's room, and handed her some clean shirts. She was very frustrated, because at school, she had tried to talk to John, but her brother had only ranted at her, giving no proper to her questions. And when they had come home, he had gone to his room wordlessly, where he still was now. "John and I bounced from home to home, while Dad was in Pascadero," the girl revealed to her aunt after a while.

"Locked behind four walls can change how a person thinks, you know," Dana told her then.

In the evening, when Kyle and Sarah were both back, he asked her about the Turk and Shipkov. The raven-haired handed him the paper, Dmitri had given her. "Maria and Dmitri Shipkov are both alive."

"Well done, Tin-Lady," he said, before they finally parted, and Kyle made his way to John's room, knocking softly at the door.

He waited for his son's answer, but when he received none, Kyle opened the door and stepped into John's room. He spotted the boy lying on the bed, with his eyes closed and the headphones on, and he only noticed his father, when ladder tapped him on the shoulder. "What do you want?" he snapped, taking off his headphones.

"I wanna talk to you," Kyle replied calmly. "Listen, I know you saw the video." He took a deep breath, rubbing his neck. "I was going to destroy the tape. I didn't want you or your sister to see it." John snorted, but continued by asking, "Have you noticed the date on the tape, John?"

"Yes," the boy hissed softly through gritted teeth. "It was the date you gave up being our father."

Kyle could tell that his son wasn't just angry, but that he was indeed hurt. "It was the date I broke out of Pescadero," he declared, more emotional than usual, "because one minute after I signed the papers, I knew I couldn't live without you and Cameron. I had to see you, and you know what? That was the same day you came to rescue me. Please believe me, when I tell you that you and your sister mean everything to me, John."

Eventually, John looked at his father, fighting back the tears in his eyes. He didn't say a word, instead he stood up from the bed to hug him tightly.

Sometime later, a relaxed Kyle placed the T-888's hand in thermite, and destroyed it finally, feeling as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Once he left the garage, he saw Dana, standing barefoot in the backyard, enjoying a short moment of peace. He walked over to her, and the Resistance fighter told him, "In the future there's no cold grass, only dirt and dust everywhere you look." She swallowed audibly hard and sighed afterward. "Then Kate and I often thaught back to the time when we were young, about the feeling of the lush grass wet with drew under our feet."

"You miss her," he stated softly, receiving a sad nod from the woman.

Kyle could easily empathize with her, for he missed and grieved for Kate, his beloved wife, too. Sometimes, he did even so much that he found it almost unable to bear it. He sighed, and promised, "I'll take you to where she buried her some day, okay?"

"That would be nice," Dana replied. "Thanks."

Agent Ellison was sitting in a Bible reading group, seeking solace with the knowledge he had now. Dr. Silberman's words had begun to haunt him, as he knew that even though the doctor was mentally ill, he had confirmed the arrival of the future apocalypse by Skynet and the machines. And by now, he believed Kyle Reese, who had rescued him from Silberman's burning house.

Just a few days later, Sarah was sitting on the piano bench motionlessly, in front of their idle piano. However, she didn't play on it, but had folded her hands in her lap, and was simply staring at the keys, as if she could press them down by sheer force of will. The raven-haired wanted to play, to play a certain piece, yet she didn't dare somehow. She was completely clueless why _this _melodie had such a strange effect on her, and wished for the first time that she would know all her past, not just some fragments and broken bits future Cameron had allowed her.

But then the sixteen years old Cameron came downstairs, caught sight of the unmoving terminator, and promptly decided to walk over to her. A brief glance at the girl was the only sign that the raven-haired acknowledged her presence. Remaining silent, she sat down slowly, next to Sarah, on the bench. It was big enough for two, but small enough for these two to graze.

At first, the girl waited for Sarah to start playing. She waited for nothing, though. "Would... Would you play something for _me_," she asked softly, thinking that she might encourage the terminator this way. "Please."

Sarah's sparkling, jade-green eyes fixed on Cameron, who felt a nervous, yet pleasant shiver running down her spine at the intensive look. But then the raven-haired turned back to the piano, inhaled deeply, even though she wouldn't have needed to, reached out her hands, and _flowed_ over the piano keys. Immediately, Cameron recognized the piano piece Sarah was playing. It was Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor.

Cameron closed her eyes, concentrating on the hidden language of the heart, and on the raven-haired's body heat and her perfume, while Dana was standing at the foot of the stairs, watching and listening with a look of disbelief. Tears shimmered in her eyes.

_"There was a time when Dad was a hero to John and I. We thought he walked on water. We know better now. We all have weak moments. Moments where we lose faith. But it's our flaws, our weaknesses that make us human. Science performs miracles like the gods of old. Creating life from blood cells or bacteria or a spark of metal but they're perfect creatures and in that way they couldn't be less human. Dad says that there are things machines will never do. They cannot possess faith, they cannot commune with God, they cannot appreciate beauty, and they cannot create art. If they ever learn these things, they won't have to destroy us. They'll be us. But I, on the other hand, wonder somehow, if they aren't already."_


End file.
